New Delhi, India

The BCCI selection committee, headed by Ajit Agarkar, announced India's 16-member squad for the upcoming two-match Test series versus South Africa, to be held in the African nation. Rohit Sharma will lead the side comprising the experience of R Ashwin, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and KL Rahul (who returns in the red-ball setup after his injury) whereas the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane sit out.  Bumrah has been named as Rohit's deputy.

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Pujara was not part of India's last Test series -- where they beat West Indies 1-0 in the Caribbean island early this year. Rahane, who retained his place for the WI series post his impressive comeback in the 2021-23 WTC final, is also out of the squad. His scores in the WI Tests were 3 and 8.

Pujara continues to remain out of contention after his lengthy barren run. He managed to break his four-year-long century drought during the Bangladesh Tests in Dec 2022, but since then only managed one fifty-plus score. In addition, his twin failures in the WTC final, in June, led to his omission.

Youngsters such as Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shubman Gill and inexperienced pacers namely Mukesh Kumar and Prasidh Krishna have been preferred as the selection committee have one eye on the future.

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Also read: Winning T20 World Cup is priority, long-term planning can wait: BCCI official on Dravid’s contract extension

The two Tests hold a lot of significance for India in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 cycle. The series, which kicks off with the Boxing Day Test on Dec 26 and have its finale on Jan 3, will also mark the beginning of Rahul Dravid's second stint as India's head coach.

He agreed to BCCI's extension offer after his tenure was officially over post the home ODI World Cup. 

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The last time India played Tests in South Africa was in late 2021-early 2022, when they lost 1-2. It led to Kohli's resignation as the Test captain. 

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India Test squad for two Tests versus South Africa:

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.

Note: Shami's availability is subject to fitness. He is currently undergoing medical treatment.