Rahul to lead India in ODIs against South Africa

Senior batsman KL Rahul will captain India in the upcoming three one-day internationals against South Africa in the absence of injured Shubman Gill, as the selectors announced the team on Sunday.

India's test and ODI captain Gill was forced out of the ongoing second South Africa test after he injured his neck in the opener of the two-match series.

Rahul, who is India's first-choice wicketkeeper in ODIs, will lead the 15-member squad, including stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the matches starting 30 November in Ranchi.

Both Kohli and Rohit only play the 50-over format after they quit T20 cricket following the team's 2024 World Cup victory, and earlier this year, they retired from tests.

India's ODI vice-captain Shreyas Iyer is recovering from a lacerated spleen he suffered when falling heavily in a one-day clash against Australia in Sydney last month.

Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant return to the ODI team.

The second and third ODIs are scheduled for 3 and 6 December before the teams head into five T20 matches.

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