India have kickstarted their preparations for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 as they engage in eight T20I matches after the completion of the ODI World Cup 2023 in the ongoing year. The Men in Blue are currently playing in a five-match series against Australia at home and will fly to South Africa for an all-format series, including three T20Is. The BCCI announced India's squads for the Proteas tour and named three different captains as part of workload management and their priority-based format approach.
Rohit Sharma is the Test captain and he requested a break from the white-ball games. There are speculations about whether the 36-year-old will be leading India in the 20-over World Cup in the West Indies and USA with Hardik Pandya an obvious potential candidate. A BCCI source has shed light on the debate, weighing that Sharma will lead the team in the T20 World Cup if he agrees to do the same.
"Rohit has been offered T20 captaincy but he is in the UK on a holiday and wants an extended break after four months of gruelling season till the end of the World Cup. But as captain, he has the highest respect for the dressing room and if he agrees to lead India in the T20 World Cup, he will lead," a BCCI source said as quoted by PTI.
Rohit and Virat Kohli requested a break for the white-ball leg of the tour, BCCI confirmed in a press release while announcing the squads for the South Africa series. KL Rahul will be leading the Indian team in the ODI squad, which also sees a return of Sanju Samson and Axar Patel. Suryakumar Yadav is not picked in the ODI setup.
After being given the captaincy charge for the Australia T20I series, Surya will be leading the Men in Blue in the 20-over series against the Proteas too. This comes after Rohit opted for an extended break and Hardik Pandya continued to remain absent due to an ankle injury he suffered in World Cup 2023. The South Africa series starts on December 10 with a T20I series at hand first.
India's T20I squad for the South Africa series
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.
