Shreyas Iyer, Shahbaz Ahmed and Umesh Yadav have been added to India squad for the three-match T20I series against South Africa, while Deepak Hooda has been ruled out with injury, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said in a statement on Wednesday. "Deepak Hooda is ruled out of the upcoming Mastercard South Africa Tour of India after sustaining a back injury. The all-rounder is at NCA for further management of his injury," the BCCI said in its statement.
"Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have also reported to the NCA for conditioning-related work while Arshdeep Singh has linked up with the squad in Thiruvananthapuram," the statement added.
The BCCI also confirmed that Mohammed Shami is yet to fully recover from COVID-19 and will not be part of the series. Umesh Yadav, who was drafted in as Shami's replacement for the recently concluded series against Australia, has been retained for the South Africa series as well.
"Mohd. Shami is yet to attain full recovery from COVID-19 and will not be able to take part in the three-match T20I series. The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Umesh Yadav as Shami's replacement and Shreyas Iyer as a replacement for Hooda. Shahbaz Ahmed has also been added to the T20I squad," the BCCI said.
India and South Africa will face off in the first T20I on Wednesday in Thiruvananthapuram.
This will be India's final T20I assignment before they head to Australia for the 2022 T20 World Cup, which begins next month.
India squad for South Africa T20Is: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Shahbaz Ahmed.