Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli take BREAK from white-ball matches as BCCI announce squads for South Africa tour

The tour of South Africa will begin on 10th December, with there being 3 ODIs, 3 T20Is, 2 Tests and 3 First Class matches.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli take BREAK from white-ball matches as BCCI announce squads for South Africa tour

Indian Cricket Team (Image via ESPN)

On the evening of 30th November, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squads that will tour South Africa. Starting on 10th December, there will first be a 3-match T20I series, where Suryakumar Yadav will lead the team. KL Rahul returns as the captain for the ODI team for a 3-match series. Rohit Sharma will lead the Indian team in the Test series, which begins on 26th November. 

Virat Kohli and Sharma have taken an indefinite break from white-ball cricket, and hence will not feature in the ODI and T20I series. Also, the Indian Test team will be without Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara. 

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KL Rahul returns to the Test side while Mohammed Shami’s inclusion is subject to fitness. Sanju Samson and Yuzvendra Chahal finally return to the ODI, with Sai Sudarshan, Rinku Singh and Rajat Patidar getting their first ODI call-ups. 

Indian squad for 3-match T20I series 

Suryakumar Yadav will lead the T20I team once again as Hardik Pandya is not available for this series. Shubman Gill, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed SIraj, Deepak Chahar and Ravindra Jadeja return to the T20I team, with Jadeja being appointed as vice-captain. 

Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav (Image via ESPN)
  • Yashasvi Jaiswal
  • Shubman Gill 
  • Ruturaj Gaikwad 
  • Tilak Varma 
  • Suryakumar Yadav (C) 
  • Rinku Singh
  • Shreyas Iyer 
  • Ishan Kishan (wk) 
  • Jitesh Sharma (wk) 
  • Ravindra Jadeja (VC)
  • Washington Sundar 
  • Ravi Bishnoi 
  • Kuldeep Yadav
  • Arshdeep Singh 
  • Mohammed Siraj
  • Mukesh Kumar
  • Deepak Chahar

Indian squad for the 3-match One Day Internationals series

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had requested for breaks from white-ball cricket, and hence do not feature. Sai Sudarshan, Rinku Singh and Rajat Patidar were called up to the ODI teams for the first time, while Yuzvendra Chahal and Sanju Samson returned. 

KL Rahul
KL Rahul (Image via ESPN)
  • Ruturaj Gaikwad 
  • Sai Sudharsan 
  • Tilak Varma 
  • Rajat Patidar 
  • Rinku Singh 
  • Shreyas Iyer 
  • KL Rahul (C)(wk) 
  • Sanju Samson (wk) 
  • Axar Patel 
  • Washington Sundar 
  • Kuldeep Yadav 
  • Yuzvendra Chahal 
  • Mukesh Kumar 
  • Avesh Khan 
  • Arshdeep Singh 
  • Deepak Chahar

Indian Squad for the 2-match Test Series 

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah return to cricket after the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup finals. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad retain their sports in the squad, while Mohammed Shami’s inclusion is based on his fitness. 

Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma (Image via ESPN)
  • Rohit Sharma (C) 
  • Shubman Gill 
  • Yashasvi Jaiswal 
  • Virat Kohli 
  • Shreyas Iyer 
  • Ruturaj Gaikwad 
  • Ishan Kishan (wk) 
  • KL Rahul (wk) 
  • Ravichandran Ashwin 
  • Ravindra Jadeja 
  • Shardul Thakur 
  • Mohd. Siraj 
  • Mukesh Kumar 
  • Mohd. Shami* 
  • Jasprit Bumrah (VC) 
  • Prasidh Krishna

Along with these, the BCCI is sending India A to play two 4-day first class matches, which is led by KS Bharat. There is also a 3-day Inter-squad match, which includes players from both India A and the Indian test side. It will be played 4 days before the first Test on 26th December.

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