After team India completes its Windies tour, the Men in blue will take on South Africa in their home soil. Virat Kohli and company will be playing 3 matches T20 series and 3 matches Test series against the Proteas. BCCI on Thursday announced India’s 15-man squad for T20 series against the Soth Africa. On a surprising event, MS Dhoni has been ignored for the three-match T20 series. Last time Dhoni played was in 27th Feb when India took on Australia in the second match of the series in Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium.
MS Dhoni ignored for T20 series against Proteas
MS Dhoni was given a break after the World Cup campaign. Since then he has not made a come back for his international side. Alongside Dhoni, Hardik Pandya was also given a break post World Cup. However, the Indian all-rounder has made a come back into the T20 squad after a long vacation. The team has also decided to rest Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuveneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah for the September series and decided to allow young legs.
Team India T20 squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, Rahul Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini
Pant takes the opportunity
Dhoni has been out of action since the World Cup and his exclusion has given chance to young Rishab Pant in both ODIs as well the T20I matches and in the first Test against West Indies. The youngster behind the wickets appears to be the best suited to replace the World Cup-winning captain. However, Pant has not yet produced an impressive performance since the World Cup conclusion; the glory from his bat is yet awaited.
India will be taking on Bangladesh for in its next white-ball cricket and it will be interesting to see if Dhoni can make a come back to the squad or not. The former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly feels that Dhoni should play only if he feels confident enough. “MS (Dhoni) is at a stage in his career where he has to make a decision what can I do ahead, can I contribute in the future, can I take India to victory like M.S. Dhoni, not someone else,” he said.
