New Delhi, Nov 23 The senior men’s selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, is scheduled to convene in Mumbai on Sunday to select India’s squads for the upcoming white-ball series against South Africa, said sources to IANS.
Agarkar, along with RP Singh and BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia, were in Guwahati on Saturday to attend day one of the second Test against South Africa at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium. But IANS understands that the trio left for Mumbai from Guwahati on Sunday for the selection committee meeting at the BCCI headquarters.
“Yes, the selection meeting is today in Mumbai, after being initially presumed that it would happen in Guwahati. It is understood that other members are also travelling to Mumbai for it,” further said the sources.
Following the conclusion of the two-match Test series, India will play against South Africa in three ODIs, to be played in Ranchi, Raipur and Visakhapatnam and five T20Is set to take place in Cuttack, New Chandigarh, Dharamsala, Lucknow and Ahmedabad. The discussion in the Agarkar-led panel is expected to centre a lot on who could lead the side for the ODI series against the Proteas.
There’s a leadership vacuum in the 50-over set-up as captain Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer are unavailable due to neck and spleen injuries. With Gill also consulting Mumbai-based spinal surgeon Dr Abhay Nene for his neck injury recovery, it also puts him as a doubtful starter for the T20Is against South Africa, starting on December 9.
IANS understands that there’s a leadership toss-up between KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, with more discussions expected to happen in the selection committee’s meeting. Rahul has led India previously in ODIs and was the captain when the side beat South Africa in the 50-over series in 2023.
Pant, on the other hand, is captaining India in the ongoing second Test in Guwahati, but hasn’t been a first-choice starter in the 50-over set-up due to Rahul’s presence. In Gill’s absence, Yashasvi Jaiswal could partner with Rohit Sharma at the top.
With Jasprit Bumrah set to be rested to manage his workload and Kuldeep Yadav expected to be on leave due to his wedding, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy and Washington Sundar will shape the bowling attack.
For the T20I series against the Proteas, barring Gill, the majority of the squad is likely to be on the expected lines. It would be interesting to see if Hardik Pandya is included, with the seam-bowling all-rounder on rehab mode for a quad injury recovery at the BCCI CoE in Bengaluru.
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