For the South Africa series, the Indian selection committee made a few adjustments to the ODI and Test squads. The BCCI announced on Saturday that pacer Mohammed Shami would not be playing in the two-match Test series against South Africa, which begins on December 26, due to his failure to recover in time. Shami was provisionally included in the team for the two-game series. His participation required his fitness to be cleared. “The fast bowler, Mohd. Shami is ruled out of the two Tests as the BCCI Medical Team has not cleared him to play in the Test series,” the BCCI stated in a release.
Following the ODI World Cup, where he finished as the top wicket-taker with 24 scalps, Shami injured his ankle.
Another alteration to the ODI team was the withdrawal of medium pacer Deepak Chahar because of a family emergency. Akash Deep, who was already in South Africa with the India A team, took his place.
“Due to a family medical emergency, Deepak Chahar has notified the BCCI that he will not be available for the forthcoming ODI series. Mr. Akash Deep has been chosen by the Men’s Selection Committee to succeed him, according to the BCCI.
On December 17, the first ODI of the series, Batter Shreyas Iyer will only be accessible. After that, he will join the Test team and stop playing in the white-ball series.
“Shreyas Iyer will join the Test squad to get ready for the Test series after the first ODI in Johannesburg ends on December 17th. The release also stated that he will participate in the inter-squad game and will not be available for the second and third ODIs.
Another significant change of Team India’s support staff is that fielding coach T. Dilip, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey, batting coach Vikram Rathour, and head coach Rahul Dravid will not be playing in the ODI squad. Instead, to get ready for the red-ball matches, they will join the Test squad.
“The senior men’s team will work with the Test squad to prepare for the intrasquad match and the Test series. Head coach Mr. Rahul Dravid, batting coach Mr. Vikram Rathour, bowling coach Mr. Paras Mhambrey, and fielding coach Mr. T. Dilip will oversee this process.”
“India A’s coaching staff, which consists of fielding coach Ajay Ratra, bowling coach Rajib Datta, and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, will support the ODI team.
To prepare for the Boxing Day Test, India will participate in an intrasquad match in Pretoria from December 20 to 22. Star players Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, and captain Rohit Sharma departed for South Africa late on Friday and are probably going to be involved in that practice match.