BCCI announces India squad for the ODI series against South Africa; KL Rahul to lead

On Friday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the 18-member India squad for the upcoming three-match One Day International (ODI) series against South Africa.

KL Rahul will be leading the ODI side in the absence of regular white-ball captain Rohit Sharma. Meanwhile, frontline pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been named Rahul’s deputy.

Notably, Rohit had had recently replaced Virat Kohli as Team India’s full-time ODI skipper. However, the Mumbaikar had suffered a hamstring injury during a net session ahead of India’s departure for the South Africa tour. Injured Rohit was ruled out of the three-match Test series and he had to move to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru for his rehabilitation.

The three-match ODI leg between South Africa and India is scheduled to be played between January 19 and 23. The first two matches will take place at the Boland Park in Paarl, while the third and final ODI shall be hosted by Capetown’s Newlands Stadium.

When it comes to the squad, Team India selectors have rewarded Ruturaj Gaikwad and Venkatesh Iyer for their domestic and IPL performances. Ruturaj had won the Orange Cap in IPL 2021 for scoring 635 runs and he followed it up with 603 runs in five matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Similarly, Venkatesh also carried his rich form in the IPL and scored 379 runs for Madhya Pradesh in Vijay Hazare. He also bagged nine wickets in 6 matches.

Ravichandran Ashwin has made a comeback in the ODI setup. The veteran spinner last played an ODI game back in 2017 against West Indies. Along with Ashwin, off-spinner Washington Sundar has also returned to the 50-overs outfit. He has played only one ODI in his short career which began in 2017 against Sri Lanka.

Here is Team India’s ODI squad for the South Africa series:

KL Rahul (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Siraj.