Kolkata : BCCI announced squad for South Africa ODI series, with KL Rahul named stand-in captain.
Indian side sees a shakeup as recently appointed ODI captain Shubman Gill went down injured during the first Test against South Africa in Kolkata and vice-captain Shreyas Iyer is still recovering from an injury on India’s tour of Australia.
In their absence, KL Rahul takes the reins of the side for the series, who last led India in 2023, when they beat South Africa 2-1 in an ODI series.
The squad sees several changes, with Tilak Varma and Ruturaj Gaikwad being included in the team as India look to fill the void left by Shreyas Iyer in the middle order.
Both batters last made an ODI appearance for India during their tour of South Africa in 2023. Gaikwad most recently shone for India A with scores of 117, 68 and 25* as India A secured a 2-1 series win against South Africa A.
Meanwhile, senior stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli continue to bolster the top order, with Yashasvi Jaiswal being a prime candidate to open the batting alongside India’s former skipper.
Rishabh Pant is also named in the side, as he remains in contention to play his first ODI for India since the Tour of Sri Lanka in 2024, where India lost the ODI series 2-0. He is one of three wicket-keeper batters in the squad alongside stand-in skipper, KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel.
Meanwhile, in the bowling department, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj are rested as Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, and Arshdeep Singh make up the pace attack.
Axar Patel misses out as Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy make up for the all-rounders. Reddy most recently featured for India A against South Africa A, before joining the side for the second Test in Guwahati.
India squad for the ODI series: KL Rahul (C), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel.
India’s ODI fixtures against South Africa:
November 30: 1st ODI – Ranchi
December 3: 2nd ODI – Raipur
December 6: 3rd ODI – Visakhapatnam.
