India vs South Africa ODI Series: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the Indian team on Sunday for the three-match ODI series against South Africa. Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer not part of the squad: Indian captain Shubman Gill and vice-captain Shreyas Iyer are injured, due to which they have not been selected in the squad for the ODI series against South Africa. Gill is out due to a neck injury, which he suffered during the recent Kolkata Test against South Africa. Shreyas Iyer, on the other hand, is recovering from an abdominal injury, which he suffered during the ODI series against Australia.
In Shubman Gill's absence, 33-year-old KL Rahul has been given the responsibility of captaining the team. He has scored 3092 runs in 88 ODIs for the country at an average of around 38. It should be noted that KL has captained the team in 12 ODIs, winning eight of them. He also has experience in 66 Tests and 72 T20 Internationals. The team also includes veterans like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who will assist KL Rahul in his captaincy duties.
Test vice-captain Rishabh Pant has returned to the ODI setup after a long absence. He has been named vice-captain for the series. Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was the leading run-scorer in the ODI series against South Africa A, has also been included in the squad.
Star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja returns. He was omitted from the ODI squad for the Australia tour last month. He replaces Axar Patel, who may be rested for this series.
Although the selectors have once again overlooked Mohammed Shami for the ODI series against South Africa. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj have been rested, but Shami is still not part of the squad. Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, and Harshit Rana will handle the fast bowling, while Nitish Kumar Reddy will play all-rounder.
Opportunity for Yashasvi Jaiswal
In Gill’s absence, Yashasvi Jaiswal will likely open with Rohit Sharma. Yashasvi Jaiswal has a golden opportunity at his hands to make the most of the three ODIs. He's played just one ODI so far against England and scored 15 runs. Having got his chance, the southpaw now must make a strong case for himself to be considered as a backup opener going ahead in the ODI format.
India's ODI Squad: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (C) (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel.
The ODI series between India and South Africa is scheduled to begin in Ranchi on November 30. The second match of the series will be played in Raipur on December 3, and the third and final match will be played in Visakhapatnam on December 6.
