Hardik Pandya, Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar Return to India Squad for South Africa ODIs

Hardik Pandya, Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned while Kedar Jadhav and Mayank Agarwal were left out of the India squad for the three-match ODI series against South Africa.

The injured Rohit Sharma continued to stay out while Shubman Gill received a call up. There was no place for Shivam Dube and Shardul Thakur in the 15-man squad too.

Changes from India’s previous ODI series (0-3 loss in New Zealand)

IN: Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan

OUT: Mayank Agarwal, Kedar Jadhav, Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Shami.

Hardik last played for India in September 2019, after which he has been out of action with a back injury which required a surgery in London. Hardik returned to competitive cricket recently and was in great form in the DY Patil T20 tournament in Mumbai where he smashed two centuries. Hardik’s last ODI was against New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final in Manchester and his absence affected the balance of the ODI side as Shivam Dube could not step up.

Bhuvneshwar played the three-match T20I series against West Indies at home last December before he had a hernia surgery in London. Dhawan was forced out of the New Zealand tour after suffering a shoulder injury while fielding in an ODI against Australia.

Agarwal opened in Dhawan’s absence in the New Zealand ODIs but managed only scored of 32, 3 and 1. Jadhav made 26 and 9 (27) in the two matches he played, and the latest decision puts his international future in doubt given he is close to 35.

The first ODI will take place on March 12 in Dharamsala before the series moves to Lucknow (March 15) and Kolkata (March 18).

India’s ODI squad: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Virat Kohli (C), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill.