The All India senior selection committee met on Wednesday to pick an 18-member squad for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. After taking over the T20I captaincy from Virat Kohli last month, Rohit Sharma will now be at the helm of the ODI team too.
Additionally, he has also been named as Kohli’s new deputy in Tests. Former vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, who has been out of form for over a year now, has been selected only as a player.
India are to tour South Africa for three Tests and as many ODIs starting December 26. There were speculations that the tour will be cancelled amid the Omicron scare, but the Indian Cricket Board has now confirmed that the tour will go on as planned. However, the four-match T20I series, which was to be played after the Test series, has been indefinitely postponed.
Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel have been left out of the Test squad as they are nursing injuries. In Gill’s absence, Hanuma Vihari has been recalled after impressing in the on-going India ‘A’ tour of South Africa. Shreyas Iyer has retained his place in the side after a sensational Test debut against New Zealand, while KL Rahul has recovered from the injury he sustained last month. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami are also returning after taking a break in the home series against the Kiwis.
Squad: Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma(vc), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant(wk), Wriddhiman Saha(wk), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj.
Standby Players: Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswalla
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