On Wednesday evening Selectors announced India’s Squad for South Africa Tour 2021. Where Indian team will play three Test matches series and three matches ODI series during 2021-22.
Indian Test Squad Announced:
On the evening of the 8th of December, the selection committee headed by former Indian cricketer Chetan Sharma, committee has announced the 18 men’s squad for South Africa tour for 2021-22. The 18 men’s squad will be led by Virat Kohli for India’s Squad for South Africa Tour.
The committee has decided to remove Former vice-captain and standby test captain Ajinkya Rahane from vice-captaincy. They have decided to go with the current T20 captain and newly selected captain Rohit Sharma for the vice-captaincy role.
While out of form batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have managed to confirm another ticket for India’s Squad for South Africa Tour.
The Indian team will play 3 tests and 3 ODI matches between Dec 26 to Jan 23. Right now, the committee has announced only a test squad of 18 men and four standby players for the tour. They have not announced the ODI squad yet.
also read: WHO WILL BE INDIA’S NEXT GENERATION CAPTAIN AFTER KOHLI, ROHIT RETIREMENT
Indian Test Squad:
Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj, Jayant Yadav.
standby players: Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswalla.
Who Missed and Made the Entry:
Hanuma Vihari, one of the red ball specialists for the Indian team has made the list after missing out during India vs New Zealand tour is the biggest positive and relief for the Indian middle order. He is playing with Indian A on South Africa tour for now and is in good touch.
Other big names included for the South Africa tour are Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, and Shardul Thakur, who were given rest by the BCCI committee because of being in the regular squad. While latest centurions Shreyash Iyer and Jayant Yadav have managed to retain their place in India’s Squad for South Africa Tour 2021-22.
Some players from the last series have got the injury and a few have dropped from the squad. Ravindra Jadeja, Shubhman Gill, Akshar Patel has got the injury, While Suryakumar Yadav and Srikar Bharath have been dropped from the squad, without getting any chances during the last series against New Zealand, who was the replacement of mainstream Indian players.
While some other potential picks were assumed for the SA tour from the India A squad, like Abhimanyu Eswaran and Priyank Panchal. Both have played some exceptional knocks over the years and are regular for India A squad and currently performing well with India A squad against South Africa A in South Africa.
Schedule for IND vs SA tour:
| Date | Match Detail |
| Dec 26- Dec 30 | 1st Test |
| Jan 03- Jan 07 | 2nd Test |
| Jan 11 – Jan 15 | 3rd Test |
| Jan 19 | 1st ODI |
| Jan 21 | 2nd ODI |
| Jan 23 | 3rd ODI |
Schedule for India vs South Africa
WTC Points Table (2021- 2023 Cycle):
This will be India’s first overseas/away tournament during the second world test championship cycle, which will be organized between 2021 to 2023.
Indian team is holding the third position for now in the points table, while the Sri Lankan team is leading the table. India has played the most number of the games among all of the teams on the table.
Last time under Virat Kohli’s leadership, the Indian team was the table topper in the WTC points table but, unfortunately, ended up with a runner-up position after losing against New Zealand in the final.
| Position | Team | Matches | Won | Lost | Drawn | NR | Points | PCT |
| 1 | Sri Lanka | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 100.0 |
| 2 | Pakistan | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 75.0 |
| 3 | India | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 42 | 58.33 |
| 4 | England | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 29.17 |
| 5 | West Indies | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 25.0 |
| 6 | New Zealand | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 16.66 |
| 7 | Bangladesh | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
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