On November 30, 2023, the BCCI named the India squads for the upcoming all-format tour of South Africa in December. The T20I squad is similar to the one currently playing against Australia and the Test squad has a few changes from the West Indies series.
The ODI squad is where the board has given chances to some fresh faces. Two uncapped batters Rajat Patidar and Sai Sudharsan have been included, with Sudharsan receiving his maiden India ODI call-up.
Sai Sudarshan, who hails from Tamil Nadu, played an innings of 125 runs in the recent Vijay Hazare Trophy clash against Goa. Sudarshan also attracted the attention of the selectors with his consistently excellent performance for India A in the emerging nations Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.
Overall, Sai Sudharsan has played 22 List-A games, scoring 1236 runs with 6 centuries and 4 fifties to his name. He averages 65.05 and strikes at 96.48 runs per 100 balls. His highest score is 154 runs.
His fellow statemates and veteran India players R Ashwin and Dinesh Karthik welcomed the decision of BCCI to include Sai Sudharsan in the India ODI side and shared their joy on social media.
Ashwin posted on X: “Wow Sai Sudarshan wow! Genuinely happy for a kid who has been chasing excellence and not left any stone unturned. Totally thrilled. Well done”
Meanwhile, Karthik stated posted clap and ok hand emojis.
India squad for ODI series in South Africa:
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (C-WK), Sanju Samson (WK, Akshar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar
