Indian selectors announced team India’s 18-member ODI squad on Friday for the three-match series against South Africa.
Rohit Sharma, who was named India’s new white-ball captain, wasn’t included in the ODI series as he hasn’t regained complete fitness from the hamstring injury he suffered during a training session in Mumbai.
KL Rahul, who was named Rohit’s deputy during the T20I series against New Zealand, will lead the team in the ODI series against the Proteas with ace bowler Jasprit Bumrah was appointed his deputy.
Virat Kohli, who was in the spotlight after he was forced to step aside from the ODI captaincy, was also included in the side. Veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan returned back to the squad after being dropped from the T20 World Cup.
Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Shardul Thakur and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who all were part of India’s T20 World Cup campaign, have retained their positions in the 50-over format.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer, speedster Deepak Chahar were part of the three-match T20I series against New Zealand and have been included in the squad.
Tamil Nadu off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who last played an ODI game for India in 2017, is all set to return to the format. Ashwin and his state teammate Washington Sundar are the two options available for the off-spinner role.
Let us look at five Indian players who will play their first ODI match on South African soil.
5) Venkatesh Iyer
Venkatesh Iyer was the revelation of IPL 2021 and broke into the KKR team with his power-hitting spree against the best bowlers in the world.
Iyer scored 370 runs from 10 innings in the second phase of IPL 2021 at the strike rate of 128.41.
He made his international debut for India in the T20I series against New Zealand where he batted in the middle order and bowled only in the final game.
The lanky all-rounder accumulated 379 runs from six innings at an average of 63.16 for Madhya Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021-22. He slammed a couple of hundreds, including 151 against Chandigarh. Iyer is likely to make his ODI debut for India in South Africa.