Follow UsThe Indian selectors have rested Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma for the five-match T20I series at home against South Africa.
KL Rahul was named the captain for the 18-player squad for the series from June 9-19 while Rishabh Pant was named as the vice-captain.
Veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik's stunning performances with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the ongoing IPL 2022 also earned him a call-up. Karthik has scored 287 runs from 14 matches in the tournament at a strike rate of 190.3 which was crucial to RCB's playoffs qualification.
Karthik last played a T20I in February, 2019 against Australia at Bengaluru.
Ishan Kishan is the third wicketkeeper in the T20I side and is likely to open the batting alongside skipper Rahul with Chennai Super Kings batter Ruturaj Gaikwad also in contention for the role.
Baroda allrounder Hardik Pandya also returned to the national side after last featuring in India's league stage match against Afghanistan at the 2021 T20 World Cup. Pandya's Gujarat Titans have secured a top-two finish ahead of the IPL 2022 playoffs.
Sunrisers Hyderabad speedster Umran Malik also earned his maiden call-up following his impressive performances in IPL 2022. The Kashmir pacer claimed 21 wickets from 13 matches this season including 5-25 against Gujarat Titans.
Punjab Kings' left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh also earned his senior-team call up. Arshdeep has bowled at an economy of 7.8 and claimed 10 wickets from 13 matches in IPL 2022.
Pujara returns, no place for Ishant
For the one-off rescheduled Test against England from July 1-5 in Birmingham, selectors named Cheteshwar Pujara in the 17-player squad which also saw the inclusion of Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Umesh Yadav and Prasidh Krishna.
Pujara, who was sidelined for the home series against Sri Lanka alongside former vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, has bounced back to form with County side Sussex where he scored two hundred and two double hundreds.
Andhra keeper-batter KS Bharat has been named as the reserve keeper in place of Wriddhiman Saha, who has been communicated of his exclusion from the Test side before the Sri Lanka series.
Veteran pacer Ishant Sharma was also left out of the squad as opener Shubman Gill, who missed the previous tour due to an injury, returned to the side.
India lead the five-match Test series 2-1. The teams for the two T20Is against Ireland on June 26 and 28 and for the limited-overs series against England are yet to be announced.
According to various reports, National Cricket Academy head VVS Laxman is set to coach the team for the Ireland tour while team head coach Rahul Dravid is set to oversee the preparations for the series against England in July.
Test squad for England one-off Test: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna
T20I squad for SA series: KL Rahul (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (vice-captain)(wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik