(Cricket news) The BCCI has announced the squad that will take on South Africa in the 3 ODIs. As expected none of the players in the T20 World Cup squad will be playing the ODIs. Three of the reserves for the World Cup i.e Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar and Ravi Bishnoi are in the squad while Mohammed Shami is not. The 3 matches will be played at Lucknow, Ranchi and New Delhi. The series will be very important for the players to try and break into the first team with the ODI World Cup coming next. It is unclear whether South Africa will be playing their first choice squad but it will still be a good challenge for the men in blue.

India’s ODI squad: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubhman Gill, Shreyas Iyer (vice-captain), Rajat Patidar, Rahul Tripathi, Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Mohd. Siraj, Deepak Chahar

There are 4 changes to the squad that faced Zimbabwe. Prasidh Krishna misses out due to injury while Axar Patel, Deepak Hooda and KL Rahul are playing in the T20 World Cup. Shabaz Ahmed retains his form while Ravi Bishnoi comes back after being rested against Zimbabwe. Bishnoi unfortunately missed out on the T20 World Cup squad but he will be looking to make a mark in the ODI format. Mukesh Kumar and Rajat Patidar who have been performing well for India A have received their maiden international call-up. There is still no place in the squad for Prithvi Shaw who has been in good form in domestic cricket.

The big absence is that of Mohammed Shami. Earlier this year there were reports that Shami would not be considered for T20Is. The only white ball series he played was against England and he has been rested for the other series. After the disappointment of the Asia Cup, the selectors brought back Shami into the T20 set up by selecting him for the series against South Africa and Australia and naming him in the reserves for the T20 World Cup. He was ruled out for both the series due to Covid but now has reportedly recovered. It is understandable for Shami to be rested for a few series but right now he is being rested way too much. If he has recovered from Covid then the seamer definitely deserves to be in the squad because he hasn't played cricket in a while.

Jasprit Bumrah is likely to be ruled out of the World Cup and Shami is in line to replace him which gives the selectors another reason to make him play the ODIs to reach match fitness. It will be very difficult for Shami to go into the World Cup, having not played an international game in such a long time. Siraj and Chahar, who are also in contention if Bumrah is ruled out of the World Cup are both in the squad and unless Shami still has Covid, there is no reason for him to be excluded from the squad.

Also read: Batting heroics help India to series win over South Africa