India name 16-member squad for South Africa ODIs, Rajat Patidar and Mukesh Kumar earn maiden call-up

After the ongoing T20I series, India and South Africa will be locking horns in a three-match ODI series starting Thursday, October 6 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. The Indian squad has been named by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on their official Twitter handle.

Senior batter Shikhar Dhawan has been appointed as the captain for the One Day International series while middle-order sensation Shreyas Iyer has been named his deputy. It is to be noted that most of the T20 World Cup bound players have been rested for the final leg of this home white-ball series against the Proteas.

Shikhar Dhawan (C), Shreyas Iyer (VC), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubhman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Rahul Tripathi, Ishan Kishan (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Mohd. Siraj, Deepak Chahar.#TeamIndia | #INDvSA

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 2, 2022

Mukesh Kumar, Rajat Patidar earn maiden India call-up

Meanwhile, Dhawan and Iyer would be hoping to make the most of this opportunity by scoring some valuable runs in the upcoming series as the Indian team management and the selectors look forward to preparing a squad for the next year’s 50-over World Cup at home.

Dhawan is only selected for ODIs while Iyer could not make it to the T20 World Cup squad despite having made some appearances in the shortest format this year. Meanwhile, the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Shubman Gill would also be eager to prove their mettle in the 50-over format.

At the same time, this would also be a wonderful opportunity for Sanju Samson and Rahul Tripathi to make their bats do the talking. Tripathi, despite his consistency level in T20s, could not make it to the India XI this year whereas the team management stuck with Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik as their first-choice stumpers for the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup. Meanwhile, the likes of Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar, Avesh Khan and Mohammed Siraj would be hoping to get some match practice ahead of the marquee tournament. 

India’s ODI squad against South Africa

Shikhar Dhawan (C), Shreyas Iyer (VC), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubhman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Rahul Tripathi, Ishan Kishan (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Mohd. Siraj, Deepak Chahar.