The Indian cricket squads for the upcoming South Africa Tour have been announced by the BCCI men’s Selection Committee. The committee met in New Delhi on Thursday to finalize Team India’s squad for the all-format tour. The Indian team will be competing in three T20Is, three ODIs, and two Test matches. Additionally, India A will also play two four-day matches against South Africa A and one inter-squad three-day match.
However, two prominent players, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, are not part of the Indian ODI and T20I squads for the South Africa Tour. The BCCI has provided an explanation for their absence. Contrary to speculations that Rohit Sharma might lead in the T20Is against South Africa, the BCCI’s press release clarified otherwise.
The reason behind the omission of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from the T20Is and ODIs is not due to any injury. Instead, the duo voluntarily requested a break from the white-ball leg of the South Africa Tour, as confirmed by a BCCI release. The release stated, “Rohit Sharma and Mr. Virat Kohli had requested the Board for a break from the white-ball leg of the tour. Mohd. Shami is currently undergoing medical treatment, and his availability is subject to fitness. Mr. Abhimanyu Easwaran’s availability is also subject to fitness.”
The squads for the Tests, T20Is, and ODIs have been announced by the BCCI. The Test squad includes 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), and Prasidh Krishna.
The T20I squad consists of 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, and Deepak Chahar.
The ODI squad includes 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, and Deepak Chahar.
Furthermore, India A’s squad for the first four-day match consists of Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran*, Devdutt Padikkal, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Sarfaraz Khan, KS Bharat (C) (wk), Dhruv Jurel, Shardul Thakur, Pulkit Narang, Sourabh Kumar, Manav Suthar, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, and Tushar Deshpande.
Lastly, India A’s squad for the third four-day match includes Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran*, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, KS Bharat (C) (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, and Navdeep Saini.
Overall, the announcement of the Indian cricket squads for the South Africa Tour has generated significant interest, particularly due to the absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the white-ball leg. Fans and experts eagerly await the performances of the selected players in the upcoming matches.
