Suresh Raina returns to India’s T20 squad against South Africa

Suresh Raina returned to the Indian team setup for the first time after February, 2017 when he played in a T20 against England. And that is the format he has made a return to by being included in the squad for South Africa T20s. India will play three T20s against South Africa with the series starting on February 18.

Virat Kohli will lead the side with Rohit Sharma returning to his duties as vice captain after sporting the leadership duties against Sri Lanka in December. Also named in the squad is uncapped T20 player Shardul Thakur. Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer has been left out of the team.

Raina had been out of the squad ever since failing to clear the Yo-Yo test, now mandatory for inclusion in the national side. The Uttar Pradesh star cleared the test prior to the announcement of the ODI series against South Africa – which will be played before the T20s kick in. Since clearing the test, Raina has returned to form and been pivotal for the side in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy. He was UP’s highest run scorer and the sixth highest overall in the recently concluded T20 tournament which Delhi won. He scored 314 runs in the tournament with two fifties and an unbeaten 126 against Bengal the highlight inning.

Among the players missing out besides Iyer are Washington Sundar, Deepak Hooda, Basil Thampi and Mohammad Siraj who were named in the limited over squad to face Sri Lanka.

The 17-member squad also includes Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli who were rested for the Sri Lanka T20 series.

INDIA SQUAD: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat, Shardul Thakur.