SA v India 2018: India Squad For South Africa ODI Series Announced

Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami, Kedar Jadhav and Shardul Thakur have made their comebacks in the ODI squad for the six-match ODI series against South Africa.

While Kohli is coming back from a rest, Shami was dropped from the ODI squad earlier to keep him fit for multi-day cricket. Thakur, on the other hand, missed out selection against Sri Lanka due to a shoulder injury.

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Siddarth Kaul and Washington Sundar have been dropped from the side. Kaul made his maiden international cut for the ODI series against Sri Lanka but did not play any game. Sundar, on the other hand, replaced an injured Jadhav during the ODI series and played second ODI in Mohali.

The trio of Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer and Dinesh Karthik have been retained. Iyer had already done well in the ODI series against Sri Lanka and was all set to retain his place. There could have been a toss-up between Karthik and Pandey, but both of them were retained.

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The trio of Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendar Chahal will continue to oversee the spin department. Unsurprisingly, there was no comeback for either of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Talking of the pace attack, selectors have added two more pacers in the squad in the form of Thakur and Shami. The side already has Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the team. The non-inclusion of Umesh Yadav was surprising. The Test regular could have come in the ODI squad as well, but he did not get a chance.

Yuvraj Singh, who recently cleared the yo-yo test, could have also made a comeback but he has not played any competitive game from past two months and selectors had no barometer to check his form. Hence, he wasn’t included in the side.

The limited overs series comprises a total of six ODIs and three T20Is. Before the start of the ODI series, team India will play three Test matches, starting on January 5.

The 17-member Test squad will reach South Africa on January 29. They were scheduled to play a practice game, but the game has been cancelled. Instead, the team will take part in practice sessions.

Here is the ODI squad:

India squad: Virat Kohli (c) Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur.

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