BREAKING: KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav ruled out of India vs South Africa T20I series; Rishabh Pant to lead

With
Rahul
missing
out
and
regular
skipper
Rohit
Sharma
rested,
vice-captain
Rishabh
Pant
will
lead
the
side
for
the
T20
series
against
visitors
South
Africa.
Coming
back
into
the
side,
Hardik
Pandya,
who
led
Gujarat
Titans
to
the
IPL
title
in
their
maiden
season,
will
serve
as
Pant’s
deputy.

Along
with
Rahul,
Kuldeep
Yadav
too
was
ruled
out
on
the
eve
of
the
first
match
after
being
hit
on
his
right
hand
while
batting
in
the
nets
on
Monday
evening.

On
the
eve
of
the
match,
BCCI
announced,
“Team
India
Captain
KL
Rahul
has
been
ruled
out
of
the
T20I
series
against
South
Africa
owing
to
a
right
groin
injury
while
Kuldeep
Yadav
will
miss
out
in
the
T20I
series
after
getting
hit
on
his
right
hand
while
batting
in
the
nets
last
evening.

“The
All-India
Senior
Selection
Committee
has
named
wicket-keeper
Rishabh
Pant
as
Captain
and
Hardik
Pandya
as
vice-captain
for
the
home
series
against
South
Africa,”
the
BCCI
statement
read.

No
replacement
has
been
named
for
the
two
injured
players
and
the
duo
will
now
head
to
NCA
to
assess
the
next
step.
“The
selection
committee
has
not
named
a
replacement
for
KL
Rahul
and
Kuldeep
Yadav.
Both
the
cricketers
will
now
report
to
the
NCA
where
the
medical
team
will
assess
them
further
and
decide
on
the
future
course
of
treatment,”
the
statement
stated.

India
will
take
on
visitors
South
Africa
in
the
first
T20I
of
the
five-match
series
at
the
Arun
Jaitley
Stadium
in
New
Delhi
on
Thursday.

India’s
T20I
squad:

Rishabh
Pant
(Captain)(wk),
Hardik
Pandya
(vice-captain),
Ruturaj
Gaikwad,
Ishan
Kishan,
Deepak
Hooda,
Shreyas
Iyer,
Dinesh
Karthik
(wk),
Venkatesh
Iyer,
Yuzvendra
Chahal,
Axar
Patel,
Ravi
Bishnoi,
Bhuvneshwar
Kumar,
Harshal
Patel,
Avesh
Khan,
Arshdeep
Singh,
Umran
Malik