IND vs SA: Why KL Rahul will lead India in ODI series against South Africa - Explained

NEW DELHI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday named the squad for the three-match ODI series against South Africa.

KL Rahul, India’s first-choice wicketkeeper-batter in ODIs, has been appointed stand-in captain for the series.




Axar Patel is not part of the squad, while Ravindra Jadeja has returned after missing the Australia ODIs. Varun Chakravarthy, who played a key role for India in the Champions Trophy, has also been left out.

Tilak Varma has been included in the middle order, a move that signals the team management’s plan to add more left-hand batters in that phase.

Ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been rested for the ODI series.

Why Rahul was named captain

Regular captain Shubman Gill and vice-captain Shreyas Iyer were not available for selection because of injuries. Rahul was named captain in their absence.

Gill suffered a neck injury during the first Test in Kolkata, which India lost. Iyer continues to recover from a spleen injury he picked up last month during the ODI series in Australia.

KL Rahul has so far led India in 12 ODIs.

With Iyer unavailable, a middle-order slot opened up for Tilak Varma, who recently played in a one-day series against South Africa A in Rajkot.

The first ODI of the three-match series will be played on November 30 in Ranchi, the second ODI in Raipur on December 3rd, and third ODI in Visakhapatnam on December 6th.

India’s ODI squad: 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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