Over the next two months, at least 45 India senior cricketers and 15 U-19 cricketers will be in South Africa for the series vs South Africa and the U-19 World Cup respectively. In addition to the players, there are going to be coaches and support staff for Tests, ODIs, T20Is, A matches and U-19 World Cup as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be sending a jumbo contingent to the rainbow nation for the two crucial assignments.
The senior team’s tour gets underway with the T20I series on December 10 and will feature three ODIs, two India A matches, one intra-squad day match before the two-Test series which ends on January 7. Divided into four squads, India’s present and future will battle it out in different formats and would look to end the long wait of breaching what remains the final frontier. India are yet to win a Test series in South Africa and a positive result will also give them crucial points in the ongoing World Test Championship Cycle.
The Tests and T20Is hold a lot of importance for Team India because of the WTC cycle and T20 World Cup next year. The same can be felt in the way squads have been assembled for the tour as full-strength side will feature in the whites while most of the gen-next, which has been playing the ongoing T20I series vs Australia, has been given a run for the South Africa T20Is too. Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have taken rest from the white-ball leg of the tour and will feature in the inter-squad three-day match before the first Test in Centurion from December 26.
On the expected lines, not much importance has been given to the ODIs since those fixtures don’t hold any relevance for now. When the ODI series will be underway, India Test specialists will be grinding it out for Test preparations and that is why most of the Test regulars don’t find a spot in the KL Rahul-led 16-member squad.
The coaches and support staff
Recently given extension, coach Rahul Dravid, batting coach Vikram Rathour, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey, fielding coach T Dilip, battery of side armers, physios and masseurs will be accompanying the side. For the India A matches, NCA coaches Sitanshu Kotak and Sairaj Bahutale are likely to travel with VVS Laxman, head of National Cricket Academy (NCA) expected to feature at some stage of the tour. It’s not clear yet whether that would be with the India U-19 team or A team but former India cricketer is expected to be in attendance.
A future roadmap was charted during the BCCI meeting in Delhi earlier this week and all these things were discussed at length. An official who attended the meeting said there is going to be different coaching setups in place so that equal attention can be given to the A side and senior team.
“It won’t be possible for Rahul Dravid and his support staff to be present everywhere so we will be having different support staff contingents. Then there is a U-19 World Cup in January too so that needs to be taken into account too,” says an official who was in the meeting also attended by BCCI secretary Jay Shah, vice-president Rajeev Shukla and treasurer Ashish Shellar.
Preparing the next line of cricketers
With Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Umesh Yadav no longer in scheme of things, a mini transition has got underway in Tests and the composition of India A squads reveals how the Indian think-tank is preparing for future. Spinners Pulkit Narang, Manav Suthar, Sourabh Kumar, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar would be keenly watched as the team now needs to start grooming replacements for Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin. Both Jadeja and Ashwin are 34 and 37 respectively and ready replacements for the experienced spin-twin is need of the hour.
Apart from the A matches, a keen eye will also be on the U-19 World Cup starting in January 2024 in South Africa. Preparations are already underway for the multi-nation tournament as the boys will be featuring in the U-19 Asia Cup from December 8. Punjab’s Uday Saharan will be leading the 15-member squad which also features consistent performers like Musheer Khan, Rudra Mayur Patel.
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Coaches Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Ajay Ratra, Abhay Sharma and Tinu Yohannan have been overseeing preparations of India colts and are likely to feature in the World Cup scheme of things too.
If the squad announcements for senior teams saw the exit of former greats, the next two months in South Africa present an opportunity for the current lot to breach the final frontier and then also to the gen-next to take the next step in their careers.
India’s squad for Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Mohd. Shami*, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna.
India’s squad for 3 T20Is: 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.
India’s squad for 3 ODIs: 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.
India A squad for the 1st four-day match: Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran*, Devdutt Padikkal, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Sarfaraz Khan, KS Bharat (C)(wk), Dhruv Jurel, Shardul Thakur, Pulkit Narang, Sourabh Kumar, Manav Suthar, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Tushar Deshpande.
India Inter-squad three-day match: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Abhimanyu Easwaran*, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pulkit Narang, Harshit Rana, Shardul Thakur, Sourabh Kumar, Manav Suthar, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini.
India A squad for 3rd four-day match: Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran*, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, KS Bharat (C)(wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Navdeep Saini.
Notes:
- Rohit Sharma and Mr Virat Kohli had requested the Board for a break from the white-ball leg of the tour.
- Mohd. Shami is currently undergoing medical treatment and his availability is subject to fitness.
- Abhimanyu Easwaran’s availability is subject to fitness.
- The U-19 World Cup starts on January 13, 2024 and the squad is yet to be announced
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