On Thursday, the BCCI announced three squads for all three formats for India’s upcoming tour of South Africa in December-January. The South African tour comprises 3 T20Is, 3 ODIs, and 2 Tests from December 10 to January 7.
The BCCI picked a total of 43 different players for three squads. Only 3 players were selected in all three squads
Even though the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel are all-format players, and have played for India in all three formats, they are missing on one or two squads due to either rest of being dropped.
Interestingly, the three players who are picked in all three formats have not yet cemented their place in the three formats in Team India. Two of them are on the fringes and won’t make it into India’s best XI in any format, while one, is yet to confirm his place in the T20I side.
Only 3 Indians Are Picked In All Three Squads For South Africa Tour:
The 3 Indian players who are picked in all three formats for the South Africa tour are Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Mukesh Kumar.
Shreyas Iyer has his place cemented in the ODI side at number 4, and is likely to start in the Test matches against South Africa at number 5. In the T20Is, he will look to perform well and stake claim for selection in next year’s T20 World Cup squad.
Gaikwad has surprisingly been picked in the Test squad as well: BCCI have dropped Rahane and included Gaikwad as well as recalled KL Rahul. Gaikwad recently hit a T20I century against Australia in Guwahati.
Mukesh Kumar made his debut in all three formats for India after IPL 2023 and has been a consistent performer in domestic cricket. With some other bowlers like Arshdeep and Avesh not doing well in T20Is, Mukesh has sneaked in and done well.
Here are India’s squads for the South Africa tour:
India Test squad:
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Mukesh Kumar, Mohd. Shami*, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad
India ODI squad:
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (C)(wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh
India T20I squad:
Suryakumar Yadav (C), Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (VC), Washington Sundar
