Suryakumar Yadav will continue to lead India’s T20I squad when they travel to South Africa next month for a three-match series that will kick-off the all-format tour. Suryakumar gets the opportunity to lead again because Rohit Sharma has requested the BCCI for a break from the white-ball leg of the tour and Hardik Pandya, who had been leading in the shortest format after the T20 World Cup last year, is out with an ankle injury.
Virat Kohli has also requested the board for a break from the three T20Is and as many ODIs that will precede the two Tests. Both Kohli and Rohit have not played any T20Is since the T20 World Cup last year when they lost to England in the semi-finals.
India’s squads for the T20I, ODI and Test tour of South Africa were announced on Thursday evening, a day after the BCCI extended Rahul Dravid’s tenure as head coach after his initial two-year contract had come to an end following the defeat to Australia in the World Cup final in Ahmedabad.
After the ongoing five-T20I series against Australia ends on December 3, India have only six more T20Is scheduled as of now before next year’s T20 World Cup, apart from IPL 2024. They play three matches in South Africa on December 10, 12 and 14, and then host Afghanistan for three matches in January next year.
India’s T20I squad for South Africa
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar
Source: ESPN Crickinfo