KL Rahul, who was supposed to lead India in the upcoming T20 International series against South Africa, was Wednesday ruled out due to an injury, BCCI informed through a tweet on Wednesday.
Wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant, who was named as Rahul’s deputy for the series against South Africa, will lead the Indian side, and Hardik Pandya has been appointed vice-captain.
“The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant as Captain and Hardik Pandya as vice-captain for the home series against South Africa,” the BCCI said in a tweet.
KL Rahul was named captain in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma, who is one amongst the many premier players to be rested from the series upon the conclusion of the IPL 2022.
Former captain Virat Kohli, premier paceman Jasprit Bumrah are among the top players who have been rested for this series after more than two months of IPL cricket.
Kuldeep Yadav will also miss out in the T20I series after getting hit on his right hand while batting in the nets last evening.
It is understood that Ruturaj Gaikwad will open the batting alongside Ishan Kishan in the series-opener on Thursday.
India are set to host South Africa for five T20Is, with the series getting underway on June 9 at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium.
India’s T20I squad: Rishabh Pant (Captain)(wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik
