Wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant is the new captain of Indian cricket team to lead the five-match T20I series against South Africa at home. Hardik Pandya is named the vice-captain.
Batter KL Rahul, who was supposed to lead the Indian side along with spinner Kuldeep Yadav, has been ruled out of the series due to injury. A statement, issued by the BCCI said that Rahul will miss out due to a right groin injury while Yadav will miss out on the series after getting hit on his right hand while batting in the nets last evening.
India is set to take on South Africa in the first T20I match of the five-match home series at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
The team is preparing for the ICC T20 World Cup later in Australia this year. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been rested from the series.
Pant has the experience of captaining a T20 side as he has been leading the Delhi Capitals for the last two years. Under his leadership, DC finished at the top in the points table in 2021 but failed to qualify for IPL 2022 playoffs.
On the other hand, Hardik Pandya is coming into this series on the back of a superb captaincy stint with Gujarat Titans in their debut season of IPL where he guided the side to its maiden IPL title.