The BCCI confirmed on Wednesday that Deepak Hooda has been ruled out of the T20I series against South Africa due to a back injury. Umesh Yadav, Shreyas Iyer and Shahbaz Ahmed, meanwhile, have been added to India’s squad for the series. The BCCI also confirmed that Mohammed Shami is yet to attain “full recovery” from Covid-19 infection and thus remains out of the side for the T20I series.
Umesh Yadav, who had replaced Shami in the T20Is against Australia, returns in the same role for the South Africa series while Shreyas Iyer, who is among the standbys for the T20 World Cup in October-November, is called up to replace Deepak Hooda.
The BCCI also provided an update on Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who are rested for the T20Is against the Proteas.
“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,” stated BCCI in a release.
Hooda's injury means the Indian right-handed batter will miss all six games at home in the lead up to the T20 World Cup, where he is a part of the 15-member squad. Shami, too, will be forced to miss all T20Is but will travel with the Indian team to Australia, as he has been named as one of the standbys for the marquee global tournament.
Barring the forced absences and rests to Bhuvneshwar and Hardik, India will largely be fielding the team that travels to the World Cup in October.
Here's the updated Indian squad for the South Africa T20Is: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Shahbaz Ahmed.
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