Rohit Sharma named vice-captain for South Africa Tests

Indian selectors have announced their squad for the upcoming three-match Test series against South Africa that starts on Boxing Day! In what was an unexpected move, Rohit Sharma has been appointed as India's vice-captain while sacking out-of-form Ajinkya from that role.

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Though Rahane managed to keep his place in the squad, he would like to face stiff competition from in-form Shreyas Iyer and Hanuma Vihari for that middle-order position! Shreyas has a dream debut in Kanpur while Vihari proves his worth with the bat in the ongoing 'A' tour of South Africa. However, Rahane has an exemplary record overseas and that should alone make him walk directly into the playing XI.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli was sacked as ODI captain. BCCI through their Twitter handle announced the decision to appoint Rohit Sharma as captain in both ODI and T20I formats going forward! On the brighter side, Virat is allowed to keep his position as Test skipper. BCCI is expected to make a decision of change in Test captaincy, if needed, at the end of the ongoing WTC cycle.

After being rested for the New Zealand Tests at home, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami return to the Test squad while retaining Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Siraj. With injuries to Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, India picked Jayant Yadav as the second spinner alongside Ravichandran Ashwin.

Rishabh Pant returns to the squad as first-choice wicket-keeper while KS Bharat who kept wickets in the second NZ Test as a substitute has been dropped. KL Rahul returns to the squad as well who is expected to open alongside Rohit in this series!

Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel were all injured and have not fully recovered yet. India also included four stand-by bowlers for this series! Prithvi Shaw who is having a great 'A' tour of South Africa is not considered for the SA series.

India squad for South Africa Tests: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj.

Standby players: Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswalla