India Test squad for SA series picked, Rahane loses vice captaincy

THE Indian selection committee on Wednesday (8) picked an 18-member squad for the upcoming three-Test away series against South Africa starting in Centurion on Boxing Day (26).

The series, which will be a part of the new cycle of the ICC World Test Championship, will be challenging for India as the Asian team has never won a series in the long format in South Africa. However, the visiting team will miss players such as Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shubman Gill and Rahul Chahar due to injuries.

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However, while regular Test captain Virat Kohli will lead the Indian side, Rohit Sharma was picked as his deputy replacing an out-of-form Ajinkya Rahane. Rahane recently led India in the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur but had to pave way for Kohli in the second game in Mumbai after failing to score enough runs. Officially though it was cited that injury forced Rahane out of the match in his home ground.

South Africa-India first Test in Centurion: Cricket South Africa

Rahane was picked as a member of the India squad for South Africa and the 33-year-old will be under pressure to score runs.

Sharma was chosen as India’s one-day international captain replacing Kohli.

India will also play three one-day internationals after the Tests while four T20 internationals that originally featured in the series have now been postponed to a later date in 2022.

India’s one-day international squad was yet to be announced. South Africa will be led in the Test series by Dean Elgar while Temba Bavuma will be his deputy.

India's Test squad for South Africa: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj.

Standby Players: Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswalla.