Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the Team India squad for their upcoming tour of South Africa that will include three T20Is, three One Day Internationals, and two Test Matches. Most notably, neither Rohit Sharma nor Virat Kohli are available for the white-ball phase of the series, with both players requesting the federation for a break from said format. Furthemore, Mohammed Shami's involvement remains doubtful at this stage, subject to fitness. (More Cricket News)
KL Rahul will lead India in the ODIs while Suryakumar Yadav will take over the reigns during the T20Is. Rohit Sharma will resume his captaincy in the Test part of the tour.
Meanwhile, Power-hitter Rinku Singh has retained his place in the squad for India vs South Africa T20Is, as has the impressive Ruturaj Gaikwad, whose sensational innings have lit up home stadiums during the ongoing Australia's Tour of India. Sanju Samson, too, is back in the squad, albeit for the three-match ODI series, where he will be joined by young-guns such as Rinku, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, and Rajat Patidar - among others.
Here is the squad for India's tour of South Africa 2023-24:
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 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 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*, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna.
India A squad for the 1st four-day match: 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, Tushar Deshpande.
India Inter-squad three-day match: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Abhimanyu Easwaran*, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pulkit Narang, Harshit Rana, Shardul Thakur, Sourabh Kumar, Manav Suthar, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini.
India A squad for 3rd four-day match: 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, Navdeep Saini.
The first India vs South Africa T20I will take place on December 10, 2023, signalling the commencment of the tour. The first IND vs RSA ODI is scheduled for December 17, while the first test of India's Tour of South Africa 2023-24, will begin on December 26, 2023, Boxing Day.
