India name squads for South Africa tour; KL Rahul to lead in ODIs, Suryakumar Yadav in T20Is

Ajit Agarkar. (Photo Source: X(Twitter)

The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced India’s squads for the upcoming tour of South Africa, comprising three ODIs, three T20Is and two tests. The squad was announced in New Delhi on Thursday, November 30 in the presence of Ajit Agarkar, the head of All India Selection Committee. India will travel to the Rainbow Nation in December 2023-January 2024. The tour will begin with a three T20Is and as many ODIs, which will be followed by a couple of Tests.

KL Rahul has been named as the captain for the 50-over series, while Suryakumar Yadav will don the captain’s hat for the shorter format of the game. Virat Kohli, who has taken a break from white-ball cricket recently, has been rested while Rohit Sharma is also missing from the white-ball squads. The BCCI confirmed both the players had requested for a break. Both the senior batters will return for the red-ball leg of the series.

The tour will begin with the first T20I being played at the Kingsmead, Durban on Sunday, December 10, and will finally conclude with the second and final Test at the Newlands, Cape Town in the first week of January. Meanwhile, this will be the first tour for marquee players like Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja after India’s setback in the recently concluded World Cup 2023, as all of them were rested for the ongoing T20I home series against Australia, where Suryakumar Yadav was given the role to lead the team.

India’s T20I squad: 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

India’s ODI squad: 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

India’s Test squad: 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, Mohammed Shami*, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna