India squad for Border-Gavaskar Trophy, South Africa tour announced

The All India Men's Senior Selection Committee announced the squad for the tour to Australia for the much-awaited Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, starting November 22. Meanwhile, the squad for the tour to South Africa for the four-match T20I series was also announced.

The biggest news that came out of the lot was the incoming of Abhimanyu Easwaran to the dressing room following a great run of form in the domestic circuit. Rohit Sharma will lead the Indian team for the BGT 2024-25, whereas, Suryakumar Yadav will continue to lead the T20I side for the tour to the rainbow nation.

Some interesting picks were made for the five-match Test series, which includes the likes of Prasidh Krishna. Additionally, pace-bowling all-rounders Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana also earned their maiden red-ball call-ups for the series down under.

Long-awaited comeback of ace pacer Mohammed Shami has been pushed back further, as the Bengal cricketer was not considered to be a part of the 18-member squad. However, Shami will be playing for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy to prove his match readiness.

According to BCCI, Shivam Dube and Mayank Yadav were unavailable for selection owing to their respective injuries, while Riyan Parag is currently undergoing a rehab at the BCCI Centre of Excellence to fight his long-term chronic right shoulder injury and thus, could not make it to the team for the South African tour.

India squad for tour of South Africa:

Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Arshdeep Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal

India squad for Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25:

Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar

Travelling Reserves: Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini

Note: Kuldeep Yadav was unavailable for selection for the tour of Australia since he has been referred to The BCCI Centre of Excellence after the end of the ongoing Test series against New Zealand for long term resolution of his chronic left groin issue.