BCCI confirmed the squad for the IND vs SA ODI series. Because of injury, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer are ruled out of the contest. KL Rahul is named as the captain for the series. Apart from this, there are multiple changes in the team.
These players are dropped
The Indian team last played an ODI series against Australia last month. The Shubman Gill-led team lost the three-match ODI series 1-2. Four players who were part of the ODI team on the Australia tour will not be part of the upcoming ODI series against South Africa. These include Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, and Mohammed Siraj. Shubman and Shreyas were scheduled to miss out due to injury. Fast bowler Mohammed Siraj has been rested as part of workload management, while left-handed all-rounder Axar Patel was dropped.
In place of these four, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Verma, Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant have been selected in the ODI team. Ruturaj played his last ODI for India on 19 December 2023 against South Africa in Gakebarha. While Tilak Verma also played his last ODI match against the same team on 21 December 2023 in Paarl. Now both the players have returned to the ODI team after almost 2 years.
Speaking of Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja, both have been included in India’s ODI squad for the first time since the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Pant, however, did not play a single match in the Champions Trophy. Pant has been selected as the second-choice wicketkeeper in the ODI squad. Pant’s last ODI match was against Sri Lanka in Colombo on August 7, 2024. The remaining 11 players selected for the Indian team for the ODI series against South Africa were also part of the ODI series during the Australia tour.
India’s ODI squad for the South Africa series: KL Rahul (captain/wicketkeeper), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel
The Indian team for the ODI series against Australia: Shubman Gill (captain), Shreyas Iyer (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Arshdeep Singh.