India team for South Africa series 2020: Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shubman Gill back into ODI team

India team for South Africa series 2020: The recently elected selection committee has named a 15-member squad for the upcoming series.

The reformed selection committee of the Indian cricket team has announced its first squad under a new chairman in Sunil Joshi for the three-match ODI series against South Africa.

Slated to began on March 12 (Dharamsala) with the first ODI, the remaining two matches will be played on March 15 and 18 in Lucknow and Kolkata respectively.

The selectors have made as many as five changes from the 16-member ODI squad which was whitewashed 0-3 in New Zealand last month.

India team for South Africa series 2020

Batsmen in Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill, all-rounder Hardik Pandya and pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been recalled into the squad.

Dhawan, who injured his shoulder during the ODI series against Australia in January, has recovered from the same. Much like the southpaw, Pandya and Kumar have also recovered from their respective injuries.

While Pandya last played for India during the T20I series against South Africa in September, Kumar’s last international appearance was during a T20I series against West Indies in December. It is worth mentioning that all the three players had recently played in the Dr. DY Patil T20 Tournament in Mumbai.

Gill, 20, who made his ODI debut against New Zealand last year, has been recalled into the team after a year. The top-order batsman was a member of the Test team which toured New Zealand but didn’t get to play a match.

Opening batsman Mayank Agarwal, who made his ODI debut in New Zealand recently, has been dropped after returning with scores of 32, 3 and 1.

Kedar Jadhav, who was living on the edge without his bowling in ODIs, getting dropped should invite a fair amount of discussion. All-rounder Shivam Dube, who has played a lone ODI till now, has also been left out.

While fast bowler Mohammed Shami seems to have been rested citing his workload, another one in Shardul Thakur has once again been dropped from the ODI squad.

India’s squad for three-match ODI series against South Africa

Contrary to the murmurs of captain Virat Kohli getting rested for the series, the selectors have named him in the squad. As far as vice-captain Rohit Sharma is concerned, he is yet to recover from the injury he suffered in New Zealand. Full squad below:

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