India Squad For South Africa T20I Series Announced, Suresh Raina Returns

Suresh Raina last featured for India last year in February against England.

New Delhi: The All-India Senior Selection Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the 16-man squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against South Africa, starting after the completion of the ODI series.

Middle-order batsman Suresh Raina has been named in the squad. The left-hander last featured for India last year in February against England. Raina was impressive in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Tournament and thus has earned a callback.

Virat Kohli will continue to lead the side, while Rohit Sharma will be his deputy. The selectors have once again left out the spin duo of Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav will continue to be India’s first choice spinners in game’s limited-overs formats.

The first match of the series will be played on February 18 at Johannesburg followed by the second match in Centurion on February 21 and the concluding match on February 24 in Cape Town.

India squad for T20I series: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma”>Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat, Shardul Thakur.

(With ANI inputs).