Rahul ruled of SA T20I series; Pant to captain India

India captain KL Rahul was on Wednesday ruled out of the five-match T20 International series against South Africa owing to a right groin injury, BCCI said on Wednesday.

Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant was named as the captain for the five-match T20I series, while Hardik Pandya, who recently led Gujarat Titans to the IPL 2022 title, was appointed as the vice-captain.

In another major jolt for the Indians, who have already left out senior players like captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav was ruled out after sustaining an injury while batting in the nets on Tuesday.

"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," BCCI said in a statement on Wednesday.

Interestingly, the selection committee has not named a replacement for KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav. Both the cricketers will now report to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru where the medical team will assess them further and decide on the future course of treatment.

India’s squad for T20Is vs South Africa: Rishabh Pant (Captain, w/k), 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.