On Friday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selection committee announced the 18-member squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series in South Africa. Unfortunately, Rohit Sharma will be missing the series as he is yet to attain match fitness from his hamstring injury because of which he has been missing the ongoing three-match Test series as well. In the absence of Rohit, KL Rahul will be leading the ODI squad, with Jasprit Bumrah being his deputy.
The head of the Indian selection committee, Chetan Sharma has informed that Mohammed Shami has been rested taking into account his workload. Apart from him, Ravindra Jadeja will also be missing the series as he has also been nursing his injury.
The selectors have rewarded IPL and domestic cricket performers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Venkatesh Iyer. Ruturaj r3ctely was the highest run getter in the IPL 2021 as he had amassed 635 runs and followed up 603 runs in 5 matches of Vijay Hazare Trophy with the help of 4 centuries.
The find of the 2nd phase of IPL 2021, Venkatesh also amassed 379 runs for Madhya Pradesh in Vijay Hazare Trophy. He also took 9 wickets in 6 matches. Since, Hardik Pandya is yet to attain bowling fitness, Iyer will the first-choice pace-bowling all-rounder.
Former skipper Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah are among players who have returned to the ODI squad after 9 months. All these players were part of the squad for the Test series against England and had to miss the Sri Lanka tour last year in July. They haven’t played an ODI game since March 2021. The three ODIs of the series will be played on January 19, 21 and 23.
Here is the 18-member Indian squad for the upcoming 3-match ODI series in South Africa:
KL Rahul (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, R Ashwin, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj.
TEAM : KL Rahul (Capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Y Chahal, R Ashwin, W Sundar, J Bumrah (VC), Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Deepak Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 31, 2021
