BCCI announce ODI squad for South Africa series

New Delhi: The 17-member Indian squad for the six-match one-day series in South Africa was announced by the selection committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India on Saturday.

Virat Kohli, who was rested from the team for the limited-overs home series against Sri Lanka, will return to lead the team as skipper.

Vice-captain Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane will be the three openers for the team.

Batsmen Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey and Dinesh Karthik retained their places, however, young KL Rahul, who has performed well in the ongoing T20I series against Sri Lanka, has not been picked.

Seamers Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Shami have been recalled in the team.

Meanwhile, Kedar Jadhav, who had missed the ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka due to a hamstring injury in early December, has also been picked.

India has played 28 ODIs against South Africa in South Africa, won five and lost 21.

India will fly to South Africa after finishing the ongoing T20I series against Lanka.

The first ODI of the six-match series will be played on February 1.

India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur.