Parthiv Patel Recalled For South Africa Test Series, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah Also Included

The Indian cricket board's senior selection committee on Monday picked the teams for the upcoming T20 International series against Sri Lanka and the three-match Test series against South Africa. The selectors dropped chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav as they named a 17-member squad for the South Africa tour. The surprise addition to the India's Test squad was wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel, while Jasprit Bumrah has been called-up for the Test team for the first time. Virat Kohli, who is being rested for the one-day series with Sri Lanka, will also not play the T20I series. In Kohli's absence, Rohit Sharma will lead both the ODI and T20 squads.

Bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya has also been included in the Test squad for the SA tour. Pandya made his Test debut in July earlier this year. He was included in the three-match series against Sri Lanka. He scored 178 runs on the tour at an average of 59.33, including one century and one fifty. He also has 4 wickets to his name.

Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay were retained in the Test squad along with KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane.

Kohli, who has been playing non-stop cricket since Indian Premier League, will be given a month's break to recharge his batteries before the all-important South Africa tour. He was not happy about the tight schedule of the Sri Lanka series, which leaves India with no time whatsoever to prepare for the South Africa series.

The skipper had said that the need for bouncy tracks for the Sri Lanka series was essentially a substitute for practice for the South Africa tour, beginning two days after this series.

The Indian team will finish their limited overs engagement against the islanders on December 24 (final T20) before they fly off to South Africa on December 27.

India are scheduled to play three Tests, 6 ODIs and three T20Is against Proteas.

The Kohli-led team will start off with the warm-up match on December 30 and the first Test will be played from January 5, 2018 in Cape Town.

Centurion will host the second Test between the two countries from January 13, while the third and the final Test of the series is scheduled to start on January 24 in Johannesburg.

Following the Test series, India will play six One-day Internationals beginning February 1st and the series will go on till February 16. The visitors will also play three Twenty20 internationals against the hosts starting February 18, with the last match to be played on February 24 at Cape Town.

In the ODI series against Sri Lanka, among the pacers, Jaydeep Unadkat made a comeback to the squad while Mohammed Siraj, who made his T20I debut in the second game against New Zealand, managed to retain his spot.

Squad for three- match Test series against South Africa:

Virat Kohli (Capt), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Parthiv Patel, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah.

Squad for T20I series vs Sri Lanka:

Rohit Sharma (Capt), KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Basil Thampi, Jaydev Unadkat.