India ODI squad for South Africa series announced; KL Rahul named captain

On Sunday, November 23, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the ODI squad of the India National Cricket Team for the upcoming series against the South Africa National Cricket Team.

The South Africa National Cricket Team are currently in India for an all-format tour, which consists of a two-match Test series, a three-match ODI series, and a five-match T20I series.

India to host South Africa across Ranchi, Raipur, and Visakhapatnam

The ODI series opener between the Men In Blue and the Proteas is set to be hosted by the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi on Sunday, November 30.

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After that, the action will move towards the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Ranchi, where the second ODI match will be played on Wednesday, December 3.

The series will then conclude with the third and last match at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Saturday, December 6.

Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer ruled out, KL Rahul handed captaincy

Regular India ODI captain Shubman Gill and vice-captain Shreyas Iyer have been ruled out of the entire 50-over series due to their respective injuries.

Shreyas Iyer has been out of action for a while as he suffered a freak injury during the last ODI series against Australia. While fielding in Sydney, he got injured upon impact after he took a catch running backwards from point to dismiss Alex Carey.

Iyer managed to complete a stunning catch, but it proved quite disastrous for him as he got seriously injured and was admitted to the ICU for quite some time before undergoing a small procedure. He is currently recovering well but will only return to competitive cricket just before the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.

Talking about skipper Shubman Gill, he suffered a neck injury during the Test series opener against South Africa at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and got retired hurt clutching the back of his neck after facing just three balls.

He is currently recovering from the injury, and due to the fears of neck spasms flaring up, the decision has been made to provide him with rest.

Talking about other major points from the squad announcement, Ruturaj Gaikwad has returned to the ODI setup and will be fighting with Yashasvi Jaiswal for a place at the top of the order.

The young left-handed batter Tilak Varma has also been selected and will be involved in direct competition with Rishabh Pant for a No.4 spot in the playing XI.

Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj have been rested for the series, while Ravindra Jadeja has made his comeback to the ODI setup, with Axar Patel being left out - possibly due to workload management.

India squad for South Africa ODIs:

Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (C) (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel

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