With white-ball captain Rohit Sharma being ruled out of the ODI series in South Africa due to a hamstring injury, the All India Senior Selection Committee announced the name of KL Rahul as stand-in captain along with the squad for the three-match series.
Rohit, Ravindra Jadeja and Akshar Patel missed out due to injuries, while Mohammad Shami was rested as part of his workload management. Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was named as the vice-captain in the squad that also includes Virat Kohli, who was removed as ODI captain in December.
"Rohit Sharma is not fit, he is in rehab and he is not going for the ODI series in South Africa. He is working on and building on his fitness. We never wanted to take chance with him," chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma said before announcing the team.
"We are looking to groom KL Rahul and we have confidence in him. He has proved his leadership qualities. KL is the best one who can handle the side. He is an all-format player and he has got good experience of captaincy... this is what all selectors think," he added.
Rohit, Jadeja and Akshar began their rehab at the National Cricket Academy and will continue to be assessed before being considered for selection. The squad announcement was delayed by few days to give Rohit the best chance of recovering but in the end the selectors played safe.
"We thought if Rohit is 100 per cent fit, there is no chance for injuries, then he should not miss an important series. If he is not 100 per cent fit, we thought we will not take a chance and all the five selectors decided not to take a chance," Sharma said.
The selectors had a chat with Rohit before deciding it was in his best interests to skip the ODI series and get completely fit before returning to international cricket. He also missed out on the Test series in South Africa after being appointed as the new vice-captain in the red ball format.
Sharma also added that the selectors are not thinking beyond the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
"We are definitely preparing for the 2023 (50-over) World Cup but our first aim is the T20 World Cup. We are not thinking beyond that," he said.
Sharma brushed off concerns about Rohit's tendency to pick up injuries ahead of major series.
We have no right to assume who will be fit or not. No one wants to be unfit. We are grooming KL Rahul and we also have Bumrah. We want them to learn and that will be good for Indian cricket." On Shami being rested, Sharma said, "Looking at the workload management of our fast bowlers, we are resting him," he said.
Sharma said the selectors took into account the performances of players in domestic cricket and some of the young talents who performed well in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy were discussed in the meeting.
"All five of us believe in domestic cricket. A lot of youngsters have already come in the side on domestic cricket performances, especially like Ruturaj, Venkatesh Iyer. Washington Sundar did very well after his injury, came back and performed in domestic cricket, and he made his place in the Indian side for ODIs," Sharma said.
"A few other young players we discussed are Ravi Bishnoi, Rishi Dhawan, who did well in domestic cricket, in Mushtaq Ali as well as in Vijay Hazare. They will definitely get their chances in future (because of load management). Another dashing batsman Shahrukh Khan was also discussed, Harshal Patel and Avesh Khan also," he added.
The three-match ODI series will begin at Paarl on January 19. The second match will also be played at Paarl on January 21 while the third one will be at Cape Town on January 23.
(With PTI inputs)
