Having lost the final two Tests and the series in South Africa, the focus for Team India now shifts to the three-match ODI series against the Proteas. The first two matches will be played at the Boland Park in Paarl on January 19 and 21, respectively while Newlands, Cape Town will play host to the final ODI on January 23. With Rohit Sharma not available for the series, KL Rahul is at the helm of affairs and the right-hander was seen addressing the team in pictures posted by the BCCI on its Twitter handle.
BCCI's Twitter handle shared photos after the team reached Paarl and began its preparations for the ODI series.
With the injection of some fresh faces, India will hope for a turnaround in fortunes. India had won the opening Test in Centurion but were well beaten in Johannesburg and Cape Town, unable to break their jinx of never winning a Test series on South African soil.
However, the ODIs will be a chance for the team to group and regain their focus in what will be a new era for Indian cricket.
A day after the final Test, Virat Kohli announced that he was stepping down as India Test captain, which meant that after being the all-format leader for so long, he will now purely play as a batter in all three formats.
Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja are unavailable for the series, while Washington Sundar was also ruled out after testing positive for COVID-19 during the camp in Bengaluru.
Jayant Yadav was named as replacement for Sundar.
Fast bowler Navdeep Saini was also added to the ODI squad as a back-up for Mohammed Siraj who is still recovering from his hamstring injury that he sustained in the 2nd Test against South Africa in Johannesburg.
India's ODI squad: KL Rahul (Captain), Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj, Jayant Yadav, Navdeep Saini.