South Africa vs India 2018: India announce squad for T20I series

Suresh Raina made a comeback to the Indian team
Suresh Raina made a comeback to the Indian team

The BCCI has announced the squad for the T20I series to be held against South Africa. The 16-man squad for the three-match series, captained by Virat Kohli, marks the comeback of veteran batsman Suresh Raina.

Raina last played a T20I for India against England in February exactly a year ago, has been out of the Indian team ever since. The 31-year-old recently scored an unbeaten 126 off just 59 balls against Bengal, while playing for Uttar Pradesh in the Super League game of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament.

The World Cup winner is the fourth-highest run-getter for India in T20Is, and had, in 2010, become the first batsman from the country to have scored a century in each of the three formats.

Uncapped T20I bowler Shardul Thakur, who has played two ODIs for India, also made it to the squad.

Jaydev Unadkat, another member of the squad, earlier became the costliest Indian in the ongoing IPL 2018 auctions, bought for Rs. 11.5 Crore by the Rajasthan Royals.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been named as the primary keeper in the squad, with Dinesh Karthik being an additional wicket-keeping option.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan also returns the team, having been rested from the previous T20I series against Sri Lanka.

The six-match ODI series precedes the three T20Is, with the first T20I to be played at Johannesburg on the 18th of February.The Test series ended 2-1 in favour of the hosts, with India managing to draw one back in the final game at Johannesburg.

Full squad:

Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (Vice Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (WK), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat, Shardul Thakur

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Edited by Aadya Sharma