India squad for ODIs against South Africa announced; Rajat Patidar bags maiden national call-up

Keeping the T20 World Cup in mind, Team India announced their squad for the upcoming 3-match ODI series against South Africa and there will be a lot of fresh faces to feature in the Blue jersey this time with the squad for the T20 World Cup leaving for Australia on 6th October.

Shikhar Dhawan will be leading the lines for Team India while Shreyas Iyer has been vested with the vice-captaincy. However, the biggest surprises of the squads were a couple of fresh faces who impressed heavily in India’s recently concluded series against New Zealand A, Rajat Patdar and Mukesh Kumar.

Barring Patidar, there will be a couple of more Royal Challengers who will be featured as a part of the squad in the form of Mohammed Siraj and all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed who has already been a part of the national squad, but is yet to make his debut in the playing eleven in Blue.

RCB’s number three, Rajat Patidar has been in scintillating form ever since his arrival in the Red and Gold in 2022. The latest burnish to his already distended shine was that in the unofficial Test and ODI series against New Zealand A as he smashed a 176 in the opener of the Test series while backing it up with an unbeaten 109 in the third Test. He was also in sublime touch in the Ranji Trophy where he finished as the second-highest run scorer of the tournament.

Mukesh Kumar was also in phenomenal touch where he stitched together crucial spells, starring an all-impressive fifer in the first innings in Bangalore against New Zealand A and claimed a couple of four-fers in the Ranji Trophy and the Irani Trophy combined. The first ODI is all set to be played at the Ekana Sports City in Lucknow on October 6th which would witness a new-look Team India going head-to-head against the formidable Proteas.

India's ODI squad: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubhman Gill, Shreyas Iyer (vc), Rajat Patidar, Rahul Tripathi, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Mohammad Siraj, Deepak Chahar