KL Rahul named stand-in captain for South Africa ODIs

India’s first-choice wicketkeeper-batter in ODIs, KL Rahul, has been named the stand-in skipper for the upcoming ODI series against South Africa. With regular skipper Shubman Gill and vice-captain Shreyas Iyer not being available for selection owing to injuries, Rahul was appointed the skipper for the three-match series.

Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja and Ruturaj Gaikwad have been added to the squad that toured Australia recently, with Axar Patel and Mohammed Siraj missing out this time.

Gill is currently in Mumbai for an assessment of his neck injury. The 26-year-old, who was named ODI captain just before the Australia tour recently, had to cut short his participation in the opening Test against South Africa after hurting his neck while batting in the first innings. He was subsequently ruled out of the ongoing Test as well with Rishabh Pant taking charge of the side.

Dhruv Jurel retains his spot despite Pant’s inclusion in the side. Axar, who was picked as the first-choice left-arm spinner for the Australia tour, failed to keep his spot though with the return of senior pro Jadeja.

Squad: 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

With both Gill and Iyer not being available, the selectors have gone with Tilak and Gaikwad in the 15-member squad. Furthermore, veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will headline the batting department that also consists of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who might get an opportunity to add to his solitary ODI cap.

While Nitish Reddy retains his spot with Hardik Pandya continuing to be unavailable, India will have only three frontline pacers – Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna – at their disposal with Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah not being considered on the back of a two-match Test series. Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar and Jadeja will make up the three spin options.

The series kicks off on November 30 in Ranchi before the teams travel to Raipur and Visakhapatnam for the second and third ODIs on December 3 and December 6 respectively. Following the conclusion of the series, the two teams will also play five T20Is.