Rohit Sharma has been made the captain of the Indian ODI team as he replaced Virat Kohli and has also been given the vice-captaincy of the Test side replacing Ajinkya Rahanae. The announcement in both regards was made by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the cricket governing body of the country.
The BCCI also announced the squad for the South Africa tour in which saw Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara being retained in the side.
The Test squad also saw Shubman Gill losing his place in the side while Shreyas Iyer has retained himself after a stellar home series against New Zealand. Interestingly enough Jayant Yadav has been named in the side but not Axar Patel. The left-arm spinner has had a superb season with India at home in Tests as well.
Team India has gone with two wicket keepers Rishabh pant and Wriddhiman Saha and Hanuma Vihari has also been able to retain his place in the squad as a foreign tour specialist batter. While six pacers have been named in the 18 men extended squad, three more pacers have been named stand-by. Those include Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswalla.
The ODI squad has yet not been named although it is confirmed that India will now be led by Rohit Sharma in all white-ball formats.
The Indian team will tour South Africa for a three-match each ODI and Test series which will begin with the Tests, with the first match beginning on Boxing Day, December 26 at SuperSport Park in Centurion. the Tests will be part of the World Test Championship 2021-23 cycle while the ODIs will be part of the ICC CWC Super League.
India’s Test Squad
Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma(vc), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant(wk), Wriddhiman Saha(wk), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj
Standby Players: Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswalla