The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced a 16-man squad that will face South Africa in the three-match ODI series. With all T20 World-bound players missing, Shikhar Dhawan will lead the team. Madhya Pradesh batter Rajat Patidar and Bengal pacer Mukesh Kumar have earned their maiden India call-ups.
All of India’s reserve players for the T20 World Cup apart from Mohammed Shami – Deepak Chahar, Shreyas Iyer, and Ravi Bishoi have been selected to play the series. Shreyas will be the vice-captain of the squad for the three-match series which will start in Lucknow on October 6.
The Indian team for the T20 World cup is set to fly to Australia on October 6, making the players of that squad unavailable for this series. However, it looks like the standby player will travel later as they have been selected for the ODIs. Shami’s absence suggests that he is likely to be named as Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement in the 15-man squad for the T20 World cup if the star pacer’s injury is serious enough to rule him out of the marquee event.
The first ODI will be played just 48 hours after the T20I series ends with the series opener scheduled to take place on Thursday (October 6) at the Ekana Sports City Stadium. The teams will then move to Ranchi for the second game on October 9 with the series finale scheduled to be held in Delhi’s famous Arun Jaitley Stadium on October 11.
South Africa have named a full-strength squad for the ODI series and will fly to Australia after the 50-over contest ends.
Team India Squad: Shikhar Dhawan (C), Shreyas Iyer (VC), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubhman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Rahul Tripathi, Ishan Kishan (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Mohd. Siraj, Deepak Chahar.
