Rainbow nation beckons & High on the confidence boost it received after its comprehensive 4-1 series victory against Australia, Team India is all set for the South Africa series.The team will travel to South Africa, where they engage in all three formats, which starts with the T20Is. The T20, ODI, and Test series in South Africa are going to be interesting in many aspects, especially because many young emerging players will get an opportunity to showcase their talent and represent the potential of Indian cricket in the future.
With the T20 World Cup approaching, the management have focused on young guns as Suryakumar will once again be seen leading a young unit, with hardly any seniors available in the ranks. Premier all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja will be his deputy and apart from him only Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, and Mohammed Siraj are the other players, who were part of the ODI World Cup, where India finished as the runners-up.
KL Rahul will be captaining the ODI team. Youngsters like Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Sai Sudarshan and Rajat Patidar have received call-ups for the ODI squad.
The Indian cricket team departed from Bengaluru on Tuesday night for their tour to South Africa. The Men in Blue, including Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, head coach Rahul Dravid, Mohammed Siraj among others departed from Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru for the tour. The all-format tour of South Africa will kickstart from December 10 with a three-match T20I series which will go on till December 14. From December 17, the ODI leg of the white-ball series will start which will conclude on September 21.
Heavyweights like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will rest during the white ball format and will come into play only in the longest format of the game.
Senior players will return for the two-match Test series, with the first Test in Centurion from December 26 onwards and the second Test at Cape Town from January 3 next year. This red-ball leg of the series will be the most anticipated one for Indian fans which is expected to be a tight affair given the South African conditions and more so as they are yet to register a Test series win in South Africa.
Rainbow Nation gears up for a great battle on the field
Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Monday announced their squads against India for the multi-format series at home, beginning December 10.
Fast bowler Nandre Burger and batters David Bedingham and Tristan Stubbs received their maiden call-ups to South Africa’s Test squad for the India series; wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne has been recalled.
Aiden Markram will captain the T20I and ODI squads, while the Test squad will be led by Temba Bavuma.
Bavuma and fast bowler Kagiso Rabada have been rested from the white-ball series. Anrich Nortje, who was ruled out of the World Cup due to a lower back stress fracture, is out of the game in all formats and has no timetable for rehabilitation.
Stubbs has been added to the Test squad for the first time, along with batter David Bedingham and fast bowler Nandre Burger.
India tour of South Africa schedule
T20Is
1st T20I – December 10, 2023 at 9:30 PM IST in Kingsmead, Durban
2nd T20I – December 12, 2023 at 9:30 PM IST in St George’s Park, Gqeberha
3rd T20I – December 14, 2023 at 9:30 PM IST in New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
ODIs
1st ODI – December 17, 2023 at 1:30 PM IST in New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
2nd ODI – December 19, 2023 at 4:30 PM IST in St George’s Park, Gqeberha
3rd ODI – December 21, 2023 at 4:30 PM IST in Boland Park, Paarl
Tests
1st Test – December 26-30, 2023 at 1:30 PM IST in SuperSport Park, Centurion
2nd Test – January 3-7, 2024 at 2:00 PM IST in Newlands, Cape Town
Squads:
India T20I squad: 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, and Deepak Chahar
India ODI squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (C)(wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, and Deepak Chahar
India Test squad: 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
South Africa T20 squad: Aiden Markram (c), Ottniel Baartman, Matthew Breetzke, Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee (1st and 2ndT20Is), Donovan Ferreira, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen (1st and 2nd T20Is), Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi (1st and 2nd T20Is), Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, and Lizaad Williams.
South Africa ODI squad: Aiden Markram (c), Ottniel Baartman, Nandre Burger, Tony de Zorzi, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Mihlali Mpongwana, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne and Lizaad Williams.
South Africa Test squad: Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Dean Elgar, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Keegan Petersen, Kagiso Rabada, Tristan Stubbs and Kyle Verreynne.