India vs South Africa: Hosts squad selection advanced to prepare new jerseys

Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. (Photo by MARTY MELVILLE/AFP/Getty Images)

After the completion of the West Indies tour, India are scheduled to play a home T20I and Test series against South Africa. The fixtures start with the 20-over matches, which gets underway on Sunday, September 15. In the meantime, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has already named a 15-member squad for the T20I series. However, the same was postponed by a week.

Earlier it was learned that the squad will be put forth on September 4. But the selectors were asked to pick the team on a short notice on Thursday. The notice was sent in the morning and a telephone conversation took place last evening to select the players. It’s been known that the selectors were at different places- Trivandrum, New Delhi, Bangalore and Kingston- and were on phone calls.

BYJU’S replaces OPPO as India’s title sponsors

Rahul Johri, the Chief Executive of the BCCI said that the selection date had to be advanced due to logistical reasons. However, as per reports in Mumbai Mirror, the advancement was a necessary one because the team’s apparel sponsors (Nike) needed time to prepare new jerseys which will have a new sponsor’s logo. Recently, BYJU’S has replaced OPPO as Team India’s title sponsors.

The deal with BYJU’s kicks off from September 1 and the world’s richest cricket board was needed to give the time to prepare the new jerseys. The three T20Is will be played on September 15, 18 and 22 in Dharamshala, Mohali and Bangalore respectively. Prior to the games of the senior team, the A team is currently playing an unofficial One Day series versus South Africa A in Trivandrum.

The A teams will also play a couple of four-day matches. Manish Pandey is the skipper for the first three One Dayers and Shreyas Iyer will take the leadership mantle for the last two games. In the meantime, the experienced Shikhar Dhawan, who has been picked for the T20I series versus the Proteas next month, has been added to India A squad for the last couple of encounters.

For the time being, India are busy playing the second Test of the two-match series in the Caribbean. After winning both the ODI and T20I series, Virat Kohli and his men showed good form and thumped Jason Holder and Co in the opening Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua.

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