India vs SA 2020: BCCI announces ODI Squad for Indian Team

India vs SA 2020: Hardik Pandya, Shikhar Dhawan, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar return from the injury as BCCI announces the squad for the ODI series against South Africa.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has recently announced the Team India ODI squad for the home ODI series against South Africa. Team India are going to play 3 ODIs from March 12 to March 18 with the third ODI scheduled to take place at Kolkata.

This shall be Team India’s last assignment before the 13^th edition of the Indian Premier League, IPL 2020 begins on March 29. While there are many new additions to the squad, there are few surprising omissions. So, quickly look at the squad selections and omissions.

New selections: 

Team India’s premier limited-overs players, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Shikhar Dhawan have recovered from the injury, and have been selected for the ODI Squad. Apart from these three, Shubman Gill too makes the squad for Mayank Agarwal.

Hardik Pandya, who has been in sensational form in the recent local T20 tournaments having smashed back-to-back centuries is coming in as a replacement for Shivam Dube. He would give the much-needed boost to the lower-order of Team India, which has often lacked the spark. 

The comeback opener, Shikhar Dhawan would be expected to open alongside Prithvi Shaw with KL Rahul batting at 5. Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar Kumar would lead the pace attack alongside Jasprit Bumrah, who too is returning from an injury, and is currently struggling for form.

Who misses out: 

The underperforming, Kedar Jadhav along with Shivam Dube, Mohammed Shami, Mayank Agarwal, and Shardul Thakur have been left out of the ODI Squad. While Kedar Jadhav’s exclusion comes naturally, the exclusion of Mayank Agarwal is debatable.

Mayank got only three opportunities on the New Zealand tour in the difficult conditions before he was excluded from the squad. He did perform poorly with just 36 runs from 3 innings, but another opportunity should have been given to him. Shubman Gill is named as his replacement.

Meanwhile, there is no official word on why Mohammed Shami was not selected, but we are assuming he is rested. The other pacer, Shardul Thakur has been also left out due to his poor performance in the NZ series. Shivam Dube has also been excluded from the squad with the prime reason being the return of Hardik Pandya.

So, here’s the complete squad for Team India for the ODI series vs South Africa (SA). 

Team India’s squad for the ODI series vs South Africa:

Batsmen	KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli (C).
All-rounders	Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja
Bowlers	Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, and Yuzvendra Chahal.

Team India’s 15-member squad for the ODI series vs South Africa:

Virat Kohli (C), Bhuvneswar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul (WK), Kuldeep Yadav, Manish Pandey, Navdeep Saini, Prithvi Shaw, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, and Yuzvendra Chahal.

South Africa’s 16-member ODI squad: 

Quinton de Kock (C & WK), Andile Phehlukwayo, Anrich Nortje, Beuran Hendricks, David Miller, Faf du Plessis, George Linde, Heinrich Klaasen, Janneman Malan, Jon-Jon Smuts, Keshav Maharaj, Kyle Verreynne, Lungi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla, Rassie van der Dussen, and Temba Bavuma,

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