Big guns return as India name squads for South Africa tour

India have announced the squads for the all-format tour of South Africa, starting 10 December.

KL Rahul will lead the ODI squad against the Proteas in the absence of several regulars, including Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya among others.

In the longer format, India will be back to full strength, bolstered by the returns of Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, and Jasprit Bumrah after their long absence from Test cricket. Rohit Sharma will be back to lead the side for the Test along with Virat Kohli, with both players requesting a break from the white-ball leg of the tour.

India’s squad for T20Is: 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.

India’s squad for ODIs: 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 squad for Tests: 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 (subject to fitness), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna. 

The return of Rahul and Iyer means there’s no place in the squad for red-ball veterans Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, both of whom featured in India’s XI for the World Test Championship Final against Australia in June.

Mohammed Shami also returns to the Test side but his inclusion is subject to fitness as he is currently undergoing medical treatment.

While Yashasvi Jaiswal and Mukesh Kumar, who made their Test debut during the West Indies tour, hold onto their place. 

Sanju Samson and Rajat Patidar find a place in the ODI squad, with the latter returning from an Achilles heel injury that kept him on the sidelines for a long time. Rinku Singh’s exploits in the shortest format have earned him a maiden call-up in the ODI format along with Sai Sudharsan, who has had impressive stints in the domestic circuit as well as the Indian Premier League (IPL).

After the heartbreaking loss in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Final, India’s focus now shifts towards the World Test Championship as well as the upcoming T20 World Cup. The Test series against South Africa will be a part of the current WTC cycle with the action starting on Boxing Day in Centurion before Cape Town hosts the second Test in the new year. Before the red-ball series, the tour will commence with a three-match T20I and ODI series.

India are second in the WTC25 standings after their 1-0 series victory over West Indies in July while South Africa are yet to play in the current iteration of the World Test Championship.