 "Shubman Gill had recently undergone physiotherapy in Mumbai before checking into BCCI's Centre of Excellence for rehabilitation. Image: AFP")
The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee unveiled India’s squad for the five-match T20I series against South Africa that will be getting underway on Tuesday, 9 December in Cuttack, with Shubman Gill returning to action after recovering from a neck injury. Gill, who leads India in Tests and ODIs and is captain Suryakumar Yadav’s deputy in T20Is, had missed the second Test against the Proteas in Guwahati in addition to the three-match ODI series that is currently underway.
Also returning to action are pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and senior all-rounder Hardik Pandya. While Bumrah had been rested for the ODI series after playing both Tests against South Africa, Pandya is returning to action for the first time since the Asia Cup, with an injury forcing him to miss the white-ball tour of Australia as well as the ODI series against South Africa.
Gill’s availability for the T20I series against South Africa, India’s penultimate assignment in the format before the T20 World Cup, is subject to fitness clearance from the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, where the 26-year-old is currently undergoing rehabilitation.
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The rest of the squad isn’t very different from the side that had recently won the Asia Cup by winning all the seven matches that they played in the UAE, as well as the subsequent tour of Australia where they won the five-match T20I series 2-1.
What remains to be seen, however, is whether Sanju Samson or Jitesh Sharma is preferred for the wicketkeeper-batter’s slot. Samson has been India’s preferred keeper-batter in the shortest format for more than a year now and had also formed a successful opening combination with Abhishek Sharma. The Men in Blue, however, had picked Jitesh Sharma ahead of him in three out of five games Down Under.
India squad for T20I series against South Africa: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC)*, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar