KL Rahul to lead India in ODI series against South Africa; Jadeja back in mix; Bumrah, Siraj rested

Senior batter KL Rahul was on Sunday named India’s captain for the upcoming three-match ODI series against South Africa, while veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja returned to white-ball set-up after an eight-month hiatus.

Rahul was handed the reins of the team after regular skipper Shubman Gill was ruled out of the series due to a neck injury that he sustained during the first Test against South Africa in Kolkata.

Rahul has been given the captaincy with the short-term goal of the South Africa series in mind.

“Rahul’s captaincy is one off and should be seen in isolation. Rishabh (Pant) wasn’t considered as he has played only one ODI game in the last one year. The selectors expect that Shubman Gill’s neck injury will heal and he will be back against New Zealand (3 ODIs in January 2026),” a BCCI source told PTI on condition of anonymity.

The series will begin on November 30 in Ranchi followed by matches in Raipur (December 3) and Visakhapatnam (December 6).

Jadeja, whose last ODI appearance came against New Zealand in the Champions Trophy final in Dubai earlier in March, returned to the mix, primarily because left-arm spin all-rounder Axar Patel has been rested for this series.

Bumrah, Siraj, Axar rested

Axar, who was a part of India’s recent white ball tour to Australia, was rested from the ODIs against the Proteas.

The 31-year-old was also a part of the four-pronged spin attack that India fielded against South Africa in the Eden Gardens Test along with Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar and Jadeja.

Both Kuldeep and Sundar have been included in the one-day squad.

However, premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah needs to wait for sometime for his ODI return after donning the blue jersey in the 2023 World Cup final against Australia in Ahmedabad.

The 31-year-old is currently playing in the Test series against South Africa and has been accorded a rest as per his workload management plan.

Bumrah, though, played in the five-match T20I series against Australia, and he was also a part of the national team that participated in the Asia Cup in Dubai, the two-match home Test series against the West Indies.

Siraj, who played against Australia in the away ODI series, was also given rest after playing two Tests against the Proteas in Kolkata and Guwahati.

Yashasvi Jaiswal might just get a chance to add to his lone one-day appearance in the upcoming series, while partnering former captain Rohit Sharma.

Jaiswal was a part of the ODI squad against Australia but did not get a chance to play as Gill opened with Rohit.

Virat Kohli, who has retired from Tests and T20Is, too has been named in the squad and the home fans can once again witness outings from the fabled RoKo combine.

Gaikwad returns

Ruturaj Gaikwad too got the selectors’ nod after a couple of impressive outings for India A against South Africa A in the recent unofficial ODI series in Rajkot.

In three matches, the 28-year-old made 117, 68 not out and 25. He has been drafted in as both Gill and original vice-captain Shreyas Iyer are recovering from their respective injuries.

Gaikwad has so far played six ODIs, and the last of them came against South Africa at Gqeberha in 2023.

The pace department will be manned by Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna and all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy.

India’s ODI squad: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul © (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, and Dhruv Jurel.