IND vs SA: Umesh Yadav, Shreyas Iyer and Shahbaz Ahmed added to T20I squad

As per the latest announcement, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has made four changes to India’s squad for the upcoming T20I series against South Africa. As the likes of Deepak Hooda, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami are unavailable due to different reasons, pacer Umesh Yadav, batter Shreyas Iyer and all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed have been added as their replacements.

While Hooda will give South Africa T20Is a miss due to back strain, Shami is yet to attain full recovery from COVID-19. As far as Pandya and Bhuvneshwar are concerned, the duo have also reported to the NCA for conditioning-related work. It must be noted that left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh, who missed the recently-concluded Australia T20I series, has linked up with the squad and would take Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s place in the XI.

It must be noted that Iyer is among the standby players in India’s T20 World Cup squad and would have a point to prove if given a chance. Umesh and Shahbaz would also intend to do the same but neither of the two are likely to get a chance in the starting XI. Meanwhile, the Men in Blue recently defeated Australia 2-1 and would be raring to replicate their heroics against South Africa as well.

South Africa series is India’s last T20I assignment before World Cup

Not to forget, this will be India’s last T20I series before the mega event in Australia next month. Hence, skipper Rohit Sharma and the team management would be aiming to identify their best combination in the series. Meanwhile, South Africa toured India for five T20Is in June and the series ended in a 2-2 tie with the last fixture getting washed out due to rain.

India squad for South Africa T20Is: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Shahbaz Ahmed.