KL Rahul named stand-in captain for South Africa ODIs

India's first-choice wicketkeeper-batter in ODIs, KL Rahul, has been named the stand-in skipper for the upcoming ODI series against South Africa. Regular skipper Shubman Gill and vice-captain Shreyas Iyer are unavailable due to injuries.

Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ruturaj Gaikwad have been added to the squad, while Axar Patel and Mohammed Siraj miss out.

Gill is currently in Mumbai for an assessment of his neck injury. The 26-year-old, recently named ODI captain, had to cut short his participation in the opening Test against South Africa after hurting his neck while batting. He was subsequently ruled out of the ongoing Test, with Rishabh Pant taking charge.

Dhruv Jurel retains his spot despite Pant's inclusion. Axar, the first-choice left-arm spinner for the Australia tour, lost his place with Jadeja's return.

Squad: KL Rahul (c/wk), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel

With Gill and Iyer unavailable, selectors have included Tilak and Gaikwad. Veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will headline the batting, alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal, who may get another ODI opportunity.

Nitish Reddy retains his spot with Hardik Pandya still unavailable. India will have three frontline pacers—Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, and Prasidh Krishna—with Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah not considered following the Test series. Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, and Jadeja are the spin options.

The series begins on November 30 in Ranchi, followed by matches in Raipur (December 3) and Visakhapatnam (December 6). After the ODIs, the teams will play five T20Is.