India vs SA T20Is: KL Rahul named captain, Dinesh Karthik returns, Arshdeep and Umran called up

KL Rahul will lead India in the five-match T20I series against South Africa following the Indian Premier League season, with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah not featuring in the 18-member squad.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were rested for South Africa series, according to PTI, however there was no mention of that in the press release issued by the Board.

Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh have been impressive in IPL 2022, and the raw pace of the former and the accuracy of the latter have evidently impressed the selectors enough to name them in the squad..

T20I Squad to face South Africa: KL Rahul (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (vice-captain) (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik

Dinesh Karthik, who has not been part of the national white-ball set-up for a while, having last played an international in 2019, makes a comeback. He has been in fine form for RCB for most of IPL 2022 and had stated earlier in the tournament that he had been working hard to earn a call-up, especially with the T20 World Cup coming up later this year in Australia

Also making a comeback after the T20 World Cup last year, is Hardik Pandya. The allrounder had his share of injury worries and had been missing from international action at the end of last year and the start of this season. But leading Gujarat Titans in the IPL season, Pandya has had good outings with the bat while also occasionally bowling at a good clip.

Pandya-led Gujarat Titans topped the league table. But despite Hardik returning and his own below par IPL, Venkatesh Iyer has retained his place in the squad.

Suryakumar Yadav is a notable absentee in the squad, having been ruled out of the IPL season before MI’s campaign ended due to an injury.

Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi provide solid options in the spin bowling department.

The series starts on 9 June in Delhi, followed by matches in Cuttack, Vizag, Rajokt and Bengaluru.