The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the squad for the ODI series to be played in South Africa next year. Virat Kohli, who had opted out of the Sri Lanka limited-overs series due to his wedding, has made a comeback and will take over the reigns from Rohit Sharma who led the side in his absence.
Kedar Jadhav also makes a return after missing out of the Sri Lanka series due to an injury. Washington Sundar and Siddharth Kaul, who were a part of the squad for the Sri Lanka series, have been excluded while Shreyas Iyer manages to hold on to his spot after a decent couple of knocks. KL Rahul, despite doing well in the recent T20Is, doesn’t find a place while Ajinkya Rahane is in as the backup opener.
Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina, despite clearing the Yo-Yo Test, haven’t managed to find a place in the side. As far as the spin department is concerned, the selectors have retained their faith on Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel while the spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been kept away from limited overs cricket yet again.
The focus will be on the fast bowlers as the surfaces in the Rainbow nation assists the seamers. India do have a strong pace unit that comprises of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. Shardul Thakur too has been named in the squad while Hardik Pandya will also don the duties of a support seamer.
India’s ODI squad for the South Africa tour
Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur
Fixtures:
Test Series:
January 5-9: 1st Test match, Cape Town
January 13-17: 2nd Test match, Centurion
January 24-28: 3rd Test match, Johannesburg
ODIÂ Series:Â
February 1: 1st ODI, Durban
February 4: 2nd ODI, Centurion
February 7: 3rd ODI, Cape Town
February 10: 4th ODI, Johannesburg
February 13: 5th ODI, Port Elizabeth
February 16: 6th ODI, Centurion
T20IÂ Series:
February 18: 1st T20I, Johannesburg
February 21: 2nd T20I, Centurion
February 24: 3rd T20I, Cape Town
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