Amid speculations of a return to the T20I format after a year, it has now been confirmed that the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma will not be featuring in the upcoming three-match T20I series against South Africa. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released the squad for the South African tour, with Rohit, and also Virat Kohli, requesting a break during the white ball leg.
'Mr Rohit Sharma and Mr Virat Kohli had requested the Board for a break from the white-ball leg of the tour,' said the BCCI's press release on the squad's announcement for the tour that features three T20Is, as many ODIs, and two Test matches.
Whilst Mohammed Shami – the leading wicket-taker of the 2023 ICC World Cup – has been named in India’s Test squad, BCCI have confirmed he is undergoing medical treatment and will be available only if he recuperates in time.
Mixture of New and Old Faces in ODI Squad
India’s ODI team, which will be led by KL Rahul in Rohit’s absence, featured many new faces. Emerging talents from the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar and Tilak Varma have all been included, with the likes of Rinku Singh also getting a shot at the fifty-over format.
Simultaneously, there will also be the returns of two experienced campaigners who were overlooked in recent times – wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson, and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.
With the next ODI World Cup being four years away, the focus has now shifted to T20Is and Tests. Along these lines, the pace pairing of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj have not been selected for the three ODIs. While the latter will feature in the other two formats, Bumrah will play only the Test matches.
India Senior Team Squads:
India’s Squad for Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Mohd. Shami*, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna.
India’s Squad for 3 T20Is: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar.
India’s Squad for 3 ODIs: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (C)(wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar.
India A and Tour Squads:
India A squad for the 1st four-day match: Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran*, Devdutt Padikkal, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Sarfaraz Khan, KS Bharat (C)(wk), Dhruv Jurel, Shardul Thakur, Pulkit Narang, Sourabh Kumar, Manav Suthar, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Tushar Deshpande.
India Inter-squad three-day match: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Abhimanyu Easwaran*, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pulkit Narang, Harshit Rana, Shardul Thakur, Sourabh Kumar, Manav Suthar, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini.
India A squad for 3rd four-day match: Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran*, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, KS Bharat (C)(wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Navdeep Saini.
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