India squad for South Africa T20I series: The selection committee has announced a 15-member squad for the South Africa series.
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The Indian selection committee has announced a 15-member squad for the upcoming T20I series against South Africa. The only change to the squad is that all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been included in place of pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
In what isn’t a like-for-like replacement, the rationale behind the same remains to be seen. In three T20Is during the ongoing West Indies tour, Bhuvneshwar had picked three wickets at an average of 15, an economy rate of 5 and a strike rate of 18.
As far as Pandya is concerned, he last played a T20I for India during the tour of New Zealand earlier this year. While Pandya had scored 25 runs in two innings, he dismissed three batsmen at an average of 43.66 and economy rate of 10.91 and a strike rate of 24 against New Zealand. Pandya didn’t feature in any team for the tour of West Indies.
As recent as yesterday, there were reports of former India captain and current wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni not in contention for the three-match series. With Dhoni not selected in the squad, one feels those reports have come true now.
The selectors retaining rookie players such as Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar, Rahul Chahar, Navdeep Saini and Khaleel Ahmed is a good sign regarding them being backed at the highest level.
India squad for South Africa T20I series
The three-match series will begin from September 15 in Dharamsala. The second match will be played on September 18 in Mohali followed by the third T20I on September 22 in Bengaluru.
