KL Rahul to Captain India in SA ODIs, here’s the Full Squad update
KL Rahul has been named India’s stand-in captain for the upcoming ODI series against South Africa. With Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer unavailable due to injuries, the selectors turned to the experienced wicketkeeper-batter to lead India in the 3-match series.
Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja and Ruturaj Gaikwad return to the squad after missing the recent Australia tour. Axar Patel and Mohammed Siraj have not been included this time, with the latter missing out to manage his workload.
Shubman Gill is currently in Mumbai undergoing tests on his neck injury. The 26-year-old suffered the injury while batting in the first Test against South Africa in Kolkata and was ruled out of the match. Iyer also remains unavailable because of injury, opening the door for youngsters Tilak and Gaikwad to make the 15-member squad.
Dhruv Jurel keeps his place despite Pant’s comeback. Jadeja replaces Axar as the senior spin option in the side. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will lead the batting group, while Yashasvi Jaiswal is set to open with Rohit in Gill’s absence. Jaiswal will get an opportunity to add to his solitary ODI cap. Gaikwad is likely to serve as the reserve opener.
With Hardik Pandya still completing his recovery from a quadriceps injury, Nitish Reddy retains his spot. India will enter the series with three frontline pacers in Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna. Jasprit Bumrah and Siraj have been rested after a heavy workload across home Tests, the T20 Asia Cup and the Australia ODIs.
Hardik, meanwhile, is in the final phase of rehab at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. He has been named in Baroda’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy squad and could feature in the first three matches before the selectors take a call on his return for the South Africa T20Is.
The ODI series begins on November 30 in Ranchi, followed by matches in Raipur on December 3 and Visakhapatnam on December 6. India and South Africa will then play a 5-match T20I series.
KL Rahul’s record as ODI captain for India
KL Rahul has led India in 12 ODIs, most recently on the South Africa tour in December 2023, where the visitors won the series 2-1. As an ODI captain for India, Rahul has won 8 matches and lost 4 matches. Interestingly, he began his captaincy career in the format on the 2022 away tour to South Africa, where he lost all 3 matches. However, in the last 9 ODIs under his captaincy, India have won 8, with their only defeat coming against the Proteas in the second ODI of the 3-matches series in 2023.
KL Rahul’s record as Test & T20I captain for India
KL Rahul has led the team in just 3 Test matches and he has won 2 and lost 1 matches. In T20Is, KL Rahul has captained India in only 1 T20I, where he ended up on the winning side.
India’s Squad for ODIs against South Africa:
KL Rahul (c/wk), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel
South Africa’s Squad for ODIs against India:
Temba Bavuma (c), Ottneil Baartman, Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Nandre Burger, Quinton de Kock (wk), Tony de Zorzi, Rubin Hermann, Keshav Maharaj, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Ryan Rickelton, Prenelan Subrayen.