The white-ball tour of South Africa next month will not see Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli playing, which means Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul will be continuing as the T20I captain and ODI captain, respectively.
This is a big opportunity for Suryakumar, who took over the T20I captaincy from Hardik Pandya after the T20 World Cup last year when Pandya got injured. He now gets a chance to lead the team again in the absence of Rohit and Kohli.
The ODI squad for South Africa sees a lot of changes, with only Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, and Kuldeep Yadav being retained from the World Cup squad. Rinku Singh and Sai Sudharsan have earned their maiden ODI call-ups, while Rajat Patidar has been recalled after being part of the ODI squad earlier this year.
Rahul, who was the India vice-captain during the World Cup after Pandya’s injury, has led the ODI side in nine games overall, and has been a crucial middle-order batter for the team, averaging 75.70 since his return to the ODI side.
The BCCI has not named a vice-captain for the ODIs, unlike for the Test and T20I squads. India’s squads for the T20I, ODI, and Test tour of South Africa were announced on Thursday evening, with the BCCI extending Rahul Dravid’s tenure as head coach.
After the ongoing five-T20I series against Australia ends on December 3, India only have six more T20Is scheduled before next year’s T20 World Cup. They play three matches in South Africa and then host Afghanistan for three matches in January next year.
India’s T20I squad for South Africa includes Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja (vice-captain), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, and Deepak Chahar.
India’s ODI squad for South Africa comprises Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (captain & wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, and Deepak Chahar.
