India v South Africa 2020: Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan return to ODI squad; Rohit Sharma still sidelined

The BCCI today named a 15-man squad for the three-match ODI series against South Africa, which begins in Dharamsala on the 12th of March.

After proving his fitness during the DY Patil T20 tournament, Hardik Pandya returns to the side after missing the entire home season and the tour to New Zealand with a back injury.

Joining Pandya in making their returns from injuries are Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan, but Rohit Sharma still remains sidelined with the calf injury that he suffered during the T20I series in New Zealand.

From that side which was whitewashed in New Zealand, Mayank Agarwal and Shardul Thakur have both been axed, with Shubman Gill keeping his place in the squad.

#TeamIndia for 3-match ODI series against SA - 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. pic.twitter.com/HD53LRAhoh

— BCCI (@BCCI) March 8, 2020

Although Dhawan had an underwhelming DY Patil tournament, he comes back to take his spot at the top of the ODI batting line-up, after an impressive home series against Australia in January, when he made two fifties, as India won the series 2-1.

Pandya, on the other hand, stormed back into the limelight, with two hundreds in the DY Patil tournament, including a knock of 158 in the semifinal. With him back in the reckoning now, it will be interesting to see whether India will revert to their tactic of having two wrist-spinners operate together, although that would be unfair on Ravindra Jadeja, who has been impressive with both bat and ball recently.

India will play three ODIs against the Proteas - in Dharamsala, Lucknow and Kolkata - and it will not be a straightforward assignment for the hosts, with Quinton de Kock's side in very good form, having whitewashed a full-strength Australia 3-0 in their most recent ODI series.