Virat Kohli And Rohit Sharma Ruled Out Of ICC World Cup, Hardik Pandya To Lead India's Squad

Virat Kohli And Rohit Sharma Ruled Out Of ICC World Cup, Hardik Pandya To Lead India’s Squad. India will be touring South Africa for a full-fledged series from December 10, 2023-January 7, 2024. They will play three T20Is, three ODIs and two Test matches. The Test series will be a part of the ongoing ICC WTC 2023-25.

The series will begin with the three-match T20I series. The matches will be played on December 10 (1st T20I Durban), December 12 (2nd T20I, Gqeberha), December 14 (3rd T20I, Johannesburg).

The T20I series will be followed by ODI and Test series. India have not won a T20 World Cup winning the inaugural edition in 2007. Since then they made made the finals only once in 2014.

India faced a league-stage exit in the T20 World Cup 2021, while they lost to England in the semi-final in 2022. With the T20 World Cup 2024, knocking on the door, the T20I series will be a dress- rehearsal for Team India.

Currently, they are playing a T20I series against West Indies and are 0-2 down in the five-match series. India needs to win the last three games to win the T20I series against West Indies.

The T20I squad selection is expected to be very different with India prioritisng experimentation in the build-up to the T20 World Cup in West Indies/USA.

Senior players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli might be rested once again as the think tank might prefer choosing a young side under Hardik Pandya’s leadership. In this article, we predict India’s 15-member T20I squad for the series against South Africa.

IND vs SA 2023-24: India’s Predicted T20I Squad

Openers: Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul

Under Pandya’s leadership, Gill might get an extended run in T20Is. He is one of the youngest Indian players to already have scored hundreds across formats.

Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul might be the other choices for the opener’s role. Both of them can also keep in the absence of Rishabh Pant whose return to international cricket is yet not confirmed. Both Kishan and Rahul can thus take the gloves for India.

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Middle-Order: Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer

This can be one of the most dynamic middle-order India can think of having. SKY comes into his own in T20I format and he can be backed up effectively by someone like Shreyas Iyer who is a good player of spin and can score quickly in the middle-overs.

With India looking to breed new players in the build-up to the T20 World Cup, the likes of Rinku Singh and Tilak Varma can be tried in the middle-order. Both the players scored good runs for their respective franchises in the IPL and hence can be tried out in international cricket.

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All-Rounders: Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja

India effectively needs two good all-rounders in South Africa. Hence Hardik and Jadeja can be the two best options. There can be a thought to rest Jadeja for the T20Is and play a proper batsman or a bowler instead but the southpaw’s international experience in South Africa might be required for the national team. He can surely fit into whatever role will be given to him.

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Pacers: Jasprit Bumrah, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan

Bumrah will lead the pace attack in the South Africa T20I series. He might have the likes of Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan for company. There are other options like Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Natarajan and Navdeep Saini who might be considered as well. India thus have a plethora of pacers to choose from for the South Africa T20I series with conditions helping them as well.

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Spinners: Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal

Kuldeep and Chahal should be the specialist spinners who might be selected for the series. Ravi Bishnoi is another option that the management can think of. Varun Chakravarthy who last played in the T20 World Cup for India is another option that can be considered. All the players who will be chosen in the squad will have a chance to stake a claim for the T20 World Cup selection.

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India Predicted T20I Squad Against South Africa

Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan (WK), KL Rahul (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya (C), Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal

Also Read: South Africa World Cup Schedule 2023: Full Schedule With PDF, Match List, Time Table, Date, Venue, Time

*Disclaimer: This is an anticipatory squad which will be released officially by BCCI keeping in mind the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 which will be held in the USA and West Indies in June-July 2024.