On Thursday, November 30, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the Test squad of the India National Cricket Team for the upcoming South Africa tour.
The India tour of South Africa 2023-24 consists of a three-match T20I series, a three-match ODI series, and a two-match Test series. The Men In Blue last toured South Africa in the 2021-22 season and didn’t have a good outing.
During that tour, the Men In Blue started off by dominantly winning the first Test, but after that things went downhill as they lost the next two Test matches and faced a 0-3 whitewash in the ODI series.
Under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, they will be looking forward to performing better this time around. The tour will start with a three-match T20I series that will be played on December 10, 12, and 14 in Durban, Gqeberha, and Johannesburg.
Next, the teams will lock horns in a three-match ODI series that will be played on December 17, 19, and 21 in Johannesburg, Gqeberha, and Paarl. The Men In Blue and the Proteas will then play two Test matches to wrap up the series with the first Test starting on December 26 in Centurion. The second and final Test will be played from January 3 in Cape Town.
India Test Squad For South Africa Series
In the South Africa tour, India will be playing their first Test series since the matches against West Indies in July 2023. The Rohit Sharma-led side had won that series 1-0 after the second Test got washed out.
Before that, they played the final of the ICC World Test Championship against the Australia National Cricket Team, which they lost for the second time in a row. India had a winning momentum heading into the WTC Final as they had defeated the Aussies 2-1 at home in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023, but they failed to perform well on the big stage.
Meanwhile, the BCCI named a squad along the expected lines for the South Africa tour. Veterans Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane weren’t included in the team as the youngsters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad got opportunities. Also, Jasprit Bumrah has been named as the vice-captain of the team.
India would want to start off their next World Test Championship cycle on a high by defeating South Africa in their own backyard, which won’t be an easy task for Rohit Sharma & Co.
India Squad For South Africa Tests:
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* (subject to fitness), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna.
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