Vice-captain Rishabh Pant, pacer Akash Deep included as BCCI unveils India squad for South Africa Tests

Senior wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will be making his first appearance for the Indian team since July in the upcoming two-match Test series against South Africa that gets underway next week. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) unveiled India’s squad for the Test series in a post on X on Wednesday, in which Akash Deep was also included among the pace-bowling options after being overlooked for the West Indies Tests last month.

Pant has not represented the Indian team since he suffered a toe fracture during the fourth Test between India and England at Manchester’s Old Trafford. The 28-year-old was struck on the foot while attempting to reverse-sweep a yorker from Chris Woakes, and had to be taken off the ground in a buggy cart due to his inability to walk.

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While he returned to complete his innings on the following day, Pant took no further part in the remainder of the fourth Test, or the series finale at The Oval. He did, however, lead India A in the first unofficial Test against South Africa A in Bengaluru, leading his team to a three-wicket victory in his first competitive appearance since the injury.

The second four-day match against the Proteas’ ‘A’ side gets underway on Thursday and Pant is expected to continue leading the home team.

Dhruv Jurel, who had kept wickets in his absence during the England Tests and had recently scored his maiden Test hundred against West Indies in Ahmedabad, has also been included but is likely to move back to being a reserve keeper.

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Prasidh Krishna, meanwhile, has been dropped from the Shubman Gill-led squad that had begun the home season with a 2-0 sweep over West Indies. Akash, however, is unlikely to be slotted into the Indian XI due to the presence of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.

Like Pant, Akash too has not represented India since the England Tests, which ended in a 2-2 stalemate in the inaugural Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.

Pant’s return, meanwhile, has led to Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batter Narayan Jagadeesan getting released from the Test squad.

The BCCI also announced the squad for India A’s three-match ODI series against South Africa A after the two four-day games, with T20 star Tilak Varma and Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad named captain and vice-captain respectively.

Interestingly, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli – who had recently played the three-match ODI series in Australia, were not named in the squad. This despite the fact that they were expected to play as many 50-over matches – international or domestic – for the next two years if they were to remain in contention for the 2027 ODI World Cup.

India Test squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (WK) (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep

India A ODI squad: Tilak Varma (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Ishan Kishan (WK), Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Vipraj Nigam, Manav Suthar, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Prabhsimran Singh (WK).