Indian opener KL Rahul will lead the ODI team in South Africa after newly-appointed white-ball captain Rohit Sharma failed to recover from a hamstring injury, said the county’s national team selectors.
Rohit was injured only days after being named India’s ODI captain in December, a promotion that completed his limited-overs captaincy takeover from Virat Kohli.
Star batsman Kohli, who stood down from the T20 job, was later sacked from the 50-over format leadership.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India said Friday that Rohit was ‘ruled out owing to an injury’ and announced the 18-man squad for the three-match series starting January 19 with pacer Jasprit Bumrah as vice-captain.
As India regulars across all three formats of the game, both Rahul, 29, and Bumrah, 28, are seen by many as future leaders to replace Sharma, 33, and the 33-year-old Kohli, who still leads the national Test team.
Squad: KL Rahul (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Y Chahal, R Ashwin, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj
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