Team India are on tour of South Africa, which started with a three-match T20I series. The T20I series ended in a draw, with both teams winning one game each. Both teams will play three ODIs in the second leg of the tour.
The ODI series started on Sunday with the first game at Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. Suryakumar Yadav led India in the shorter format, while KL Rahul is leading the team in ODIs. After this series, both teams will face off in the longest format.
Team India gave a chance to a number of youngsters in all three squads. The test series will begin on December 26, and all the big guns will be back in the squad. Rohit Sharma will be leading, and Virat Kohli, Ravi Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, and others will be back. However, just ahead of the tour, Ishan Kishan has withdrawn from the series.
The wicket-keeper batter made his test debut in the series against West Indies. The southpaw was initially named in the Indian test squad. But on Sunday, the BCCI released an update and confirmed that he would not be part of the series.
Notably, veteran Mohammed Shami is also not part of the test team due to his fitness and has withdrawn from the series. It is now Ishan Kishan. KL Rahul and KS Bharat are the other two wicket-keeping options in the squad.
The two tests will take place in Centurion and Cape Town, respectively. Team India have not won a test series in South Africa. They came close last time when Virat Kohli was the captain, but it ended 2-1 in favor of the hosts. Hence, it will be a challenge for Rohit and his team to achieve history.
Indian Test Squad vs SA: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (vv), Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wk)
