KL Rahul has been appointed captain of India’s ODI team in the absence of Shubman Gill, as selectors unveiled a 15-member squad for the upcoming three-match series against South Africa.
One of the major highlights of the selection meeting was the return of opener Ruturaj Gaikwad, who last played an ODI in December 2023. Ravindra Jadeja also makes his comeback, while Hardik Pandya remains unavailable as he continues to recover from a quadriceps injury suffered during the Asia Cup.
Rahul, who was removed as vice-captain in 2023, will lead the side temporarily. Gill is sidelined due to a neck injury sustained during the first Test against South Africa and is currently missing the second Test in Guwahati.
Rahul has previously led India to eight wins in 12 ODIs and has captained the team across formats.
Gaikwad earned his recall following strong performances for India A in the unofficial one-day series against South Africa A, where he scored a century and a half-century.
The selectors have dropped Axar Patel and reinstated Jadeja for the home series. Rishabh Pant returns to the ODI squad, joining Rahul and Dhruv Jurel as the wicketkeeping options. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will also return to action after over a month.
The ODIs will be played on November 30, December 3, and December 6 in Ranchi, Raipur, and Vizag, starting at 1:30 PM IST.
India’s ODI Squad:
Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (C & wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel