Xtra Time Web Desk: In what comes as a big blow captain KL Rahul has been ruled out for the five match T20I series against South Africa starting on Thursday, June 9 here at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Local boy Rishabh Pant has been named as the captain. KL Rahul has picked up a right groin injury. Kuldeep Yadav too is ruled out of the series as he was hit in his right hand while batting in the nets. Hardik Pandya, who recently led debutants Gujarat Titans to the IPL 2022 title, will be the vice-captain.
The BCCI, while announcing the updates, confirmed that no replacements for the injured players had been asked for, and that both Rahul and Kuldeep would “report to the NCA [National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru] where the medical team will assess them further and decide on the future course of treatment”.
Rahul was appointed captain after Rohit, India’s regular all-format captain, was rested for the series. With Virat Kohli also rested, India will now be without their first-choice top three. Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan and Venkatesh Iyer are the main options for the opening slots, with Deepak Hooda and Shreyas Iyer the other top-order options.
Squad: Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-capt), 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