No MS Dhoni As India Announce Squad For T20I Series Against South Africa

There was no MS Dhoni in the India squad for the three T20Is against South Africa. Multiple reports had suggested that MS Dhoni was unavailable for the series and his non-inclusion in the squad is on the expected lines.

Dhoni hasn’t played any competitive match since World Cup 2019. He took a break for the game to serve the Indian army. After missing the West Indies series, it was expected that MS Dhoni might be available for the South Africa series but he is not available for now.

In his absence, Rishabh Pant will continue to keep wickets. He is already the preferred wicket-keeper in the longest format of the game and the selectors are backing him to succeed Dhoni in limited-overs cricket as well.

He wasn’t originally part of World Cup squad and was called up midway tournament in place of injured Shikhar Dhawan, who suffered a broken thumb against Australia.

There was no place for either of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in the squad. It clearly means that India have started to build a team for the next T20 World Cup and Chahal and Kuldeep are not in the scheme of things for now.

Hardik Pandya made his comeback to the T20I side. He was rested for the tour of West Indies. The all-rounder has replaced Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the side, who is rested for the three T20Is.

There was no Jasprit Bumrah in the T20I squad as well. The right-arm pacer was rested for the white-ball series against West Indies and was included for the Test series. He has again been rested for the T20I series and will be making a comeback for the home Test series.

The only change in the T20I squad was the comeback of Hardik Pandya in place of rested Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

The three T20Is between India and South Africa will be played on September 15, 18 and 22.

Squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, Rahul Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini