Team India squad for ODIs vs South Africa announced, KL Rahul named captain in Rohit’s absence

KL Rahul will lead Team India in the upcoming ODI series versus South Africa, after Rohit Sharma failed to recover in time, having sustained a hamstring injury just a couple of days ahead of the tour. 

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday announced an 18-member squad for the three-match ODI series that commences from January 19. 

Chairman of the BCCI selection committee Chetan Sharma held a virtual press conference to announce the squad, wherein he informed that Rohit hasn’t regained full fitness, and so KL Rahul has been named as the stand-in captain. 

“I must inform you all that Rohit Sharma is not fit. It means that he will not be going for ODIs. He is working on his fitness and the most important thing from the selectors’ perspective is that we absolutely did not want to take a chance with Rohit Sharma. This is an important series and since he wasn’t 100 percent all five selectors felt it was better not to take this chance,” said Sharma. 

Furthermore, Jasprit Bumrah has been named as the vice-captain of the team for the first time. Another key takeaway from Friday’s presser was that Ravichandran Ashwin will make his comeback into the 50-overs format after a gap of four years, having last represented India in ODIs back in June 2017, versus West Indies. 

TEAM : KL Rahul (Capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Y Chahal, R Ashwin, W Sundar, J Bumrah (VC), Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Deepak Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 31, 2021

Mohammed Shami has been rested for the ODIs, despite his red-hot form in Test cricket versus South Africa. Shikhar Dhawan retains his place in the ODI squad, although Hardik and Krunal Pandya have missed out.

Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, are yet to recover fully from their respective injuries so they failed to make the cut, although new faces such as Rituraj Gaikwad, Venkatesh Iyer, have been included on the back of their impressive performances in the IPL and the Vijay Hazare Trophy as well. 

India squad for SA ODIs: KL Rahul (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah (Vice-captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj.