The Indian cricket team for the upcoming South Africa tour was announced by BCCI on Friday. India will engage in a four-match T20I series against the Proteas, starting from November 8 in Durban. World Champion India head into the series after completing a clean sweep against Bangladesh, which was played earlier this month.
Mayank Yadav, Shivam Dube, and Riyan Parag were the key absentees from the squad. BCCI in its press release confirmed that Mayank and Shivam "were unavailable for selection owing to injuries." Riyan Parag, on the other hand, is already present at the BCCI Centre of Excellence for long term resolution of his chronic right shoulder injury.
Interestingly, the previous series against Bangladesh was Mayank's first since returning from an injury, which he sustained midway during the previous edition of Indian Premier League (IPL).
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Meanwhile, Ramandeep Singh, who had a remarkable season with the Kolkata Knight Riders, was added in the squad. He is also part of the India A squad in the ongoing Emerging Asia Cup. Vijaykumar Vyshak, who many have seen play for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the cash rich league, has also been added.
With Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal engaged with Test duties, the onus will once again fall on Sanju Samson to open the innings with Abhishek Sharma. The Kerala batter gave a strong response to his detractors after wasting opportunities in the first two T20Is. He hit a sensational ton in the third and final encounter, which was also the second-fastest by an Indian in T20Is. His efforts helped India register the highest T20I score by any Test playing nation.
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The track in South Africa is known for assisting fast bowlers so Arshdeep Singh will shoulder the seam bowling responsibility and will find the much-needed assist from Avesh Khan and Yash Dayal.
The T20Is start from November 8 in Durban and the second encounter will be played a couple of days later at Gqeberha. The third T20I is scheduled for November 13 in Centurion, and the fourth and final match of the tour will be played on November 15 in Johannesburg.
India’s squad for 4 T20Is against South Africa: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal.
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