India was all ready to host South Africa for the five-T20I series, starting today, June 6 but the Indian camp side is now facing two major changes in the team. The two major changes include skipper KL Rahul and spinner Kuldeep Yadav being ruled out of the series after suffering a right groin injury and an injury on the right hand respectively.
KL Rahul took to Twitter and announced this decision saying, “Hard to accept but I begin another challenge today. Gutted not to be leading the side for the first time at home, but the boys have all my support from the sidelines. Heartfelt thanks to all for your support. Wishing Rishabh and the boys all the luck for the series. See you soon.”
With this, wicket-keeper and Vice Cap Rishabh Pant will be leading the team now for the series. This will be Pant’s first chance to cap for the Indian team, before this, he just had captained Delhi Capitals for IPLs. However, Pant has captained the Delhi Capitals in around 30 matches out of which his side could win 17 matches and lost around 13 matches in IPLs.
After KL Rahul is ruled out of the series, the Indian side is expected to open their batting innings with Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad. The team, in replacement of Kuldeep Yadav, has an option to select from Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi for the spin department.
Indian Squad: Rishabh Pant (Captain, wk), Hardik Pandya (Vice-Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.
