Sanju Samson returns to ODI side as India confirm all-format squads for South Africa tour

| 2025-01-16 08:09:39

India has announced separate captains for each of the three formats

Sanju Samson last played an ODI in August this year in West Indies - PTI

Wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson made a return to the international set-up after being named in the ODI squad for India’s tour to South Africa.

India are heading to South Africa for a full-fledged series in December, starting with three T20Is, followed by three ODIs and then ending with two Test matches that will be part of the ongoing World Test Championship cycle.

Samson has been in and out of the Indian set-up, and last played an ODI in August this year in West Indies. He then featured in the T20Is in Ireland. But the wicketkeeper batter eventually missed out on a place in the World Cup squad.

The 29-year-old made his ODI debut in July 2021 and has played 13 matches in this format, scoring 390 runs at an average of 55.71 and a strike rate of 104.00.

Meanwhile, India has announced separate captains for each of the three formats. Rohit Sharma will lead Team India in the Test series while KL Rahul will take over the captaincy reins during the ODI leg of the tour and Suryakumar Yadav will lead the T20I side.

Rohit and veteran batter Virat Kohli will rest from the white-ball leg of the tour. Rajat Patidar, who recovered from injury, finds a place in the Indian ODI squad while leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal also makes his way into the ODI set-up.

Shreyas Iyer makes his way back into the Test team. Meanwhile, there was no place for Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara. The reason behind the Indian selection committee picking Iyer over Ajinkya Rahane in Tests is because Rahane had made his way back to the Indian team after Iyer got injured. As Iyer has regained his fitness, the selection committee and Indian captain Rohit Sharma felt that Iyer should make a comeback in the Indian side.

Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin also made their way into the Indian Test team. Kuldeep Yadav has been picked for the Indian T20I team.

T20I squad

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar.

ODI squad

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (C)(wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar.

Test squad