Captain Rohit Sharma was on Friday ruled out of India’s upcoming ODI series in South Africa due to a hamstring injury, which has led to the appointment of selectors. KL Rahul As captain of the 18-man squad for the white-ball leg of the tour. All-rounders Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja were also not picked as they were not fit while senior pacer Mohammed Shami, who is in the squad for the ongoing Test series, has been rested. Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been made the vice-captain of the team.
The chairman of selectors said, “Rohit Sharma is not fit, he is in rehab and he is not going for the ODI series in South Africa. He is working out and working on his fitness. We will never get a chance with him. didn’t want to take it.” Chetan Sharma said before the announcement of the team
“We want to groom KL Rahul and we have faith in him. He has proved his leadership qualities. KL is the best one who can handle the team. He is an all-format player and has good captaincy experience. That’s what all the selectors think.”
The three-match ODI series will start in Paarl from January 19. The second match will also be played on January 21 in Paarl while the third match will be played in Cape Town on January 23.
Rohit and Jadeja were undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru after being ruled out of the ongoing Test series in South Africa due to injury.
In fact, the selection meeting was supposed to take place earlier – just after the Vijay Hazare Trophy – but it was pushed back only to ensure that Rohit gets a chance to pass the fitness test.
“We thought if Rohit is 100 per cent fit, there is no chance of injury, then he should not miss an important series. If he is not 100 per cent fit, we thought we will not take any chances and All the five selectors decided not to take a chance,” Sharma said.
All the selectors talked to Rohit about his fitness.
Rohit, who was named ODI captain in place of Virat Kohli earlier this month, was to travel to South Africa as the vice-captain for the Test series starting December 26, but a hamstring injury during training left him thrown out. He took over as the T20I captain against New Zealand last month.
Sharma said the selectors are not looking ahead to the 2022 T20 World Cup to be held in Australia.
“We are definitely preparing for the 2023 (50 overs) World Cup but our first target is the T20 World Cup. We are not looking beyond that.
“We have no right to judge who will be fit or not. Nobody wants to be unfit. We are grooming KL Rahul and we have Bumrah as well. We want them to learn and that’s for Indian cricket. will be good.” On Shami being rested, Sharma said, “We are giving rest to our fast bowlers keeping in mind the workload management.”
Jadeja was earlier ruled out of the South Africa tour due to a knee injury which he sustained during the New Zealand Test series at home last month.
Sharma said the selection committee took into account the performance of the players in domestic cricket and some young talent was discussed in the meeting.
“All five of us believe in domestic cricket. Many youngsters have already come into the team especially Ruturaj, Venkatesh Iyer in domestic cricket performance. Washington Sundar has done very well after his injury, coming back to domestic cricket. Performed, and he made his way into the Indian team for the ODIs,” Sharma said.
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“Some of the other young players we discussed are Ravi Bishnoi, Rishi Dhawan, who did well in domestic cricket, Mushtaq Ali as well as Vijay Hazare. He will definitely get a chance in future (due to load management). Another fast batsman Shahrukh Khan was also discussed, Harshal Patel and Avesh Khan too.”
Shaft: KL Rahul (Captain), Jasprit Bumrah (Vice-Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin , Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Famous Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj.
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