The All India Selection Committee has announced a 18-men squad for the upcoming 3-match test series against South Africa starting from December 26, 2021 at Centurion.
Board has announced Rohit Sharma as the new full-time limited overs(ODI and T20I) captain with Virat Kohli continuing to lead the test team. Rohit has also been appointed as vice-captain for the longest format.
The All-India Senior Selection Committee also decided to name Mr Rohit Sharma as the Captain of the ODI & T20I teams going forward.#TeamIndia | @ImRo45 pic.twitter.com/hcg92sPtCa
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 8, 2021
Meanwhile, Ajinkya Rahane has somehow still managed to cement his place in the squad but is expected to face heavy contesting to make it to the playing-11 as new comers Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav are also included in the squad. Hanuma Vihari who’s currently amongst the runs with India A team also features the test squad.
India have suffered few blows in the name of all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel who misses out due to injuries. Jayant Yadav is set to be seen as the other spin option alongside the experienced Ravichandran Ashwin.
No surprises though with the pace bowling department as Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami makes return to the test side after being rested for NZ series at home.
Squad: Virat Kohli (Capt),Rohit Sharma(vc), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant(wk), Wriddhiman Saha(wk), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj. pic.twitter.com/6xSEwn9Rxb
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 8, 2021
Opener Shubman Gill will also not travel to South Africa as he got injured in the recent test series against the Blackaps. KL Rahul who was ruled out for NZ test series is back in the team with Shardul Thakur also making me a return to the test team.
KS Bharat, who was on for Rishabh Pant in the recent home series has been left out over the experienced campaigner Wriddhiman Saha as the 2nd wicket-keeping option.
Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswalla and Saurabh Kumar are the players to be taken as standby for the SA tour.
Standby Players: Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswalla.#SAvIND
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 8, 2021
The test series is set to kick off from December 26 after being pushed due to COVID scare and will be followed by 3 ODIs as the the four-match T20I series already been removed from the earlier schedule.
