Hardik Pandya returns for SA T20Is; Shubman Gill picked subject to fitness

Shubman Gill is back as India vice-captain for the T20I series against South Africa, although his participation is subject to a fitness clearance from the BCCI's Centre of Excellence.

The other major headline is the return of Hardik Pandya and the exclusion of Nitish Reddy and Rinku Singh, while Jasprit Bumrah also returns for the five-match series after being rested for the ODI series against South Africa.

India squad for T20I series against South Africa: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar

Gill, the captain of the Test and ODI teams, suffered a neck injury during the first Test against South Africa in Kolkata. He subsequently missed the second Test and the ODI series, undergoing rehabilitation at the BCCI's COE in Bengaluru, where he batted for a considerable length of time over the last couple of days without showing any signs of discomfort.

Pandya's last appearance for India was in the Asia Cup 2025 Super 4s match against Sri Lanka on September 26. A left quadricep injury kept him out of action as he underwent rehabilitation at the COE from mid-October before featuring in Baroda's game against Punjab in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on December 2, in which he scored a match-winning 77 not out.

The first match of the T20I series will be played on December 9 in Cuttack. The teams travel to Mullanpur (New Chandigarh) for the second T20I on December 11, followed by a trip to Dharamsala for the third game on December 14. Lucknow will host the fourth T20I on December 17 while the series ends with the fifth T20I in Ahmedabad on December 19.