All-rounder Hardik Pandya and opener Shubman Gill made their comeback to the Indian T20I setup, as India announced the squad for the upcoming five-match series against South Africa.
Suryakumar Yadav will continue to lead the team as the regular T20I captain.
Gill, who had a neck injury that caused him to miss much of the recent Tests, and ODI matches against South Africa, has been named the vice-captain for the T20 series. However, Gill will need to pass a final fitness test at the BCCI Centre of Excellence before he can officially join the team, the Board said in a statement.
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Gill, who leads India in Tests and ODIs, was injured during the first Test match against South Africa in Kolkata. It forced him to sit out of the second Test in Guwahati and the entire ODI series that followed.
Pandya returns after missing the Asia Cup 2025 final and the recent five-match series in Australia. He confirmed his fitness during a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against Punjab in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
The team was announced after a selection committee meeting on Wednesday.
The T20 series against South Africa will kick off on December 9 in Cuttack. The following matches will be held in Chandigarh (December 11), Dharamsala (December 14), Lucknow (December 17), and the last match in Ahmedabad on December 19.
India's T20I Squad for the South Africa series:
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.