The Board for Control of Cricket in India announced the squad for the South Africa T20 series slated to begin on June 9. The board announced, KL Rahul as the skipper for the series while Rishabh Pant has been announced as the vice-captain.
The squad looks quite familiar to the one which played against Sri Lanka earlier this year as the selectors did not seem to go with the form of the players in the IPL. The likes of Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Ishan Kishan, Rituraj Gaikwad, and Shreyas Iyer were retained from the squad that played against Sri Lanka.
While Dinesh Karthik was awarded for his performance in the IPL. He has been in terrific form as a finisher for Royal Challengers Bangalore and he has been included in the squad for showing great form with the bat.
Hardik Pandya who has regained his full fitness and is back to bowling also found a place in the side. While in the spin department, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel have been picked.
In the pace department, Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh have been included for the first time in the Indian squad. Experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been able to retain his spot while Harshal Patel too has been picked in the side.
Like it was speculated, senior batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli along with pacer Jasprit Bumrah have been rested from the series.
T20I Squad: KL Rahul (Capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (VC) (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, R Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.
