Team India’s squad for the two-match Test series on the South Afria tour has been announced. The selectors have picked the full-strength squad for the matches against the Proteas with Rohit Sharma continuing to lead India in the longest format of the game. This is the second series for India in the ongoing World Test Championship cycle even as they beat West Indies away from home 1-0 in July earlier this year. India lost the three-match series in South Africa last time they toured despite winning the first Test. It was the last Test series for Virat Kohli as captain too.
As far as the squad is concerned, veteran batter Ajinkya Rahane has been left out of the squad with Shreyas Iyer being fit. Rahane played the WTC final and then toured the West Indies as well even as Cheteshwar Pujara continues to be out after missing the Caribbean tour. Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah is back in Tests after long time and along with him, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj will form the pace bowling attack most likely in the playing XI as well.
However, Shami’s availability is subject to fitness as he is undergoing medical treatment. Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin are two preferred spinners in the squad picked for the two-match Test series. Among other pace bowlers, Shardul Thakur, Mukesh Kumar and Prasidh Krishna have also made it to the Test squad.
India’s Test squad vs South Africa: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Mohd. Shami*, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna.
Meanwhile, Team India will also play a three-day inter-squad match before the Test series from December 20 to 22 and the selectors have announced a separate squad for the fixture. In this squad, Abhimanyu Easwaran, who has also been picked for the India A tour of South Africa, will be available subject to his fitness.
India Inter-squad three-day match: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Abhimanyu Easwaran*, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pulkit Narang, Harshit Rana, Shardul Thakur, Sourabh Kumar, Manav Suthar, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini.