 "Ravindra Jadeja has come back to the Indian ODI side for the South Africa series where KL Rahul is set to captain the team. Reuters")
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday announced the squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series against South Africa that begins November 30. With regular captain Shubman Gill and his deputy Shreyas Iyer both missing due to injuries, KL Rahul has been appointed captain for the series.
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj have been rested while Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rishabh Pant have made it back to the ODI set-up. Tilak Varma has also returned to the fold for the series with Iyer’s middle-order position being vacant.
Tilak, Pant and the back-up wicket-keeper option Dhruv Jurel will be in contention to play at No4 in Iyer’s absence. Yashasvi Jaiswal will most likely pair up with Rohit Sharma at the top with Virat Kohli playing at one down. Gaikwad, who was the Player of the Series in the recent India A vs South Africa A One Day series, will serve as a back-up top-order option.
The pace department will be handled by the inexperienced trio of Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna. Kuldeep Yadav has been selected as the lone specialist spinner while Jadeja and Washington Sundar are the all-round spin options.
Jadeja’s return has pushed Axar Patel out of the side even as India have retained the majority of the players who travelled to Australia for the ODI series last month.
Nitish Kumar Reddy has maintained his place in the side with Hardik Pandya continuing his recovery at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
After the second Test in Guwahati , India and South Africa will move to Ranchi for the opening one-dayer on November 30. The second ODI will take place in Raipur on December 3 while Vishakhapatnam will host the final match of the series on December 6. South Africa will then finish their tour to India with a five-match T20I series that kicks off December 9.
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View AllIndia squad for South Africa ODIs
Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (C) (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel