Indian batting lineup will breathe a sigh of relief as in-form South Africa speedster Kagiso Rabada will not be available in the three-ODI series that will begin on January 19 at Boland Park, Paarl. Rabada has been released from the ODI squad due to high workload. Cricket South Africa (CSA) have not named any replacement for the 26-year-old.
This is a huge blow for Temba Bavuma-led side as Rabada was the highest wicket-taker in the recently-concluded Test series with 20 wickets to his name at an impressive average of 19.05. Apart from Rabada, Proteas premier fast bowler Anrich Nortje is also unavailable for selection as he got injured before Test series.
In Rabada’s absence, it is likely that in-form Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi will lead the bowling attack with the new ball. They will have support of veteran left-arm pacer Wayne Parnell and Dwaine Pretorius.
The last time India took on the Proteas in an ODI series on South Africa soil, Rabada was out-of-form and could take only five wickets from five appearance with an economy rate over six runs per over. India created history and won the ODI series 5-1 under Virat Kohli’s leadership.
On the other hand, wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock will return to the squad after he announced his Test retirement after defeat in Centurion.
South Africa Squad: Quinton de Kock(w), Janneman Malan, Temba Bavuma(c), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Sisanda Magala, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dwaine Pretorius, Aiden Markram, Zubayr Hamza, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen
India Squad: KL Rahul(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Navdeep Saini, Suryakumar Yadav
