IND vs SA 2023: BCCI Announces India's Test, ODI And T20I Squad For Upcoming Series Against South Africa

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday announced Team India’s squad for the upcoming all-format tour of South Africa.

The Indian team will participate in three T20Is, three ODIs and two Test matches starting December 10. During the tour, India A will also play two four-day matches against South Africa A and one inter-squad three-day match.

Rohit Sharma's request to the BCCI for a break from white-ball cricket in South Africa despite being offered T20 captaincy has been accepted, while Jasprit Bumrah has been named his deputy for the two Tests starting December 26.

Virat Kohli's request for a break from limited-overs games too has been accepted as Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul will lead the national team in T20Is and ODIs respectively.

Suryakumar Yadav is currently captaining the Indian team in the ongoing five-match T20I series against Australia.

News agency PTI reported that Hardik Pandya is no longer an automatic choice for T20 captaincy in the T20 World Cup next year if Rohit decides to play the shortest format.

"Rohit has been offered T20 captaincy but he is in UK on a holiday and wants an extended break after four months of gruelling season till end of the World Cup. But as captain, he has the highest respect for the dressing room and if he agrees to lead India in T20 World Cup, he will lead," a BCCI source told PTI on condition of anonymity.

Interestingly, most of the players selected for ODIs don't feature either in Tests or T20Is. Only three players have been selected in all three squads -- Shreyas Iyer, Mukesh Kumar and Ruturaj Gaikwad.

Axar Patel has been dropped from the T20 squad and Ravindra Jadeja is the new T20 vice-captain for the series.

The national selection committee, on expected lines, has not included Kona Bharat in the Test squad as KL Rahul will now don the big gloves in the Test matches.

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, Mohd. Shami*, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna.

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.

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, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar.

PTI reported that Ajinkya Rahane, who scored 89 in the World Test Championship final, has probably played his last Test along with Chesteshwar Pujara.

"The two slots that Rahane and Pujara had now belong to Rahul and Iyer. Also, Gill will bat in the middle order and Yashashvi will get a long rope," the source told the news agency.

(With PTI inputs)