Jasprit Bumrah and Parthiv Patel were the new faces included in India’s 17-member squad for the Test series in South Africa starting next month, while Hardik Pandya made his return.
The national selectors, who met in Delhi on Monday, picked seven batsmen, seven bowlers, one all-rounder and two wicketkeepers in the team to be led by Virat Kohli, beginning January 5. Ajinkya Rahane has been named as vice-captain.
Pacer Bumrah, who is yet to make his Test debut, was included as the fifth seamer in addition to Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav. The 23-year-old has played 28 ODIS and 30 T20 Internationals but has not featured in the longest format of the game so far.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Patel is making another comeback to the team after impressing as a stand-in keeper in the home series against England earlier this year.
The selectors also announced a 15-member squad for the three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka later this month. Virat Kohli, who has already been rested for the One day Internationals, will miss the T20s as well, Rohit Sharma will continue as captain instead. Kohli has rested himself from the T20 series against Sri Lanka beginning in Cuttack on December 20.
Test sqaud
Virat Kohli (captain), M Vijay, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Parthiv Patel, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah.
T20 squad
Rohit Sharma (captain), Lokesh Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, M S Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Mohd Siraj, Basil Thampi, Jaydev Unadkat.
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