Rishabh Pant to lead India in T20I series vs SA after KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav ruled out due to injury
Rishabh Pant will lead India in KL Rahul's absence.
India have been handed a massive blow ahead of the start of the T20I series against South Africa as captain KL Rahul has been ruled out due to an injury. Along with Rahul, spinner Kuldeep Yadav has also been ruled out of the five-match series owing to an injury. Rahul was supposed to lead the team in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma, who has been rested for the series.
However, with an injury ruling him out, Rishabh Pant will now replace him as captain for the five T20Is. This will be the first time Pant will captain the Indian team having led Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the last two seasons. Both Pant and Rahul remain part of India's leadership group under regular captain Rohit.
BCCI confirmed the development on Wednesday and said star all-rounder Hardik Pandya will be the vice-captain for the T20I series against South Africa. Hardik enjoyed a phenomenal campaign for Gujarat Titans (GT) in the recently-concluded IPL 2022 by leading them to their maiden title in their debut season.
BCCI confirmed that Rahul has injured his right groin while Kuldeep will miss out after getting hit on his right hand while batting in the nets on Tuesday (June 07). No replacements have been named yet for the duo.
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Rahul and Kuldeep's absence is a big blow for India ahead of the series against the Proteas. While Rahul was expected to open the batting along with Ishan Kishan or Ruturaj Gaikwad in Rohit's absence, Kuldeep was expected to continue his fine form in the series after a great campaign in IPL 2022.
Gaikwad and Kishan are likely to open the batting for India in the first T20I against the Proteas at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Thursday (May 09). The onus will be on the likes of Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda and Hardik in the middle order to provide strength to the batting line-up.
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India will miss a host of superstars in the five-match T20I series. While senior players like Rohit, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami had already been rested, they will be now without the services of the likes of Rahul, Kuldeep, Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Chahar due to respective injuries.