After recuperating from their individual ailments, star batsman Shubman Gill and flamboyant all-rounder Hardik Pandya joined the Indian T20I team on Wednesday for the forthcoming five-match series against South Africa.
After recovering from a neck ailment that kept him out of the Test series and the ODIs against South Africa, Gill has been selected as vice-captain for the T20 matches.
However, according to a statement from the board, Gill’s participation is contingent to the BCCI Center of Excellence’s fitness clearance.
Pandya, who sat out the Asia Cup 2025 final as well as the five-match series in Australia, returned to the Indian setup after proving his fitness on Tuesday during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy game against Punjab in Hyderabad.
Gill, India’s Test and ODI captain, picked up the injury during the opening Test against South Africa in Kolkata. He was then ruled out of the second Test in Guwahati and the ensuing ODI series.
The selection committee meeting to pick the T20 team took place in Raipur on Wednesday.
In Cuttack, the five-match series gets underway on December 9. The other matches are scheduled in Chandigarh (December 11), Dharamsala (December 14), Lucknow (December 17) and Ahmedabad (December 19).
India’s regular T20I captain is Suryakumar Yadav.
India squad: 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
