Stubbs earns maiden call-up; Nortje returns for India T20Is

South Africa have included Tristan Stubbs in their 16-man squad for the five-match T20I series against India, starting from June 9. 

The 21-year-old wicketkeeper-batter, who recently made his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians, was the second-highest run-scorer in South Africa's domestic T20 challenge - slamming 293 runs in seven innings at an average of 48.83 and a strike rate of 183.12.

Anrich Nortje, who hasn’t played for South Africa since the last T20 World Cup, also returns back to the squad. The tearaway quick didn’t feature in the first few games of the Indian Premier League 2022 because of an injury but seems to have recovered completely. 

The players - Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Rassie van der Dussen and Marco Jansen - who missed the two-Test series against Bangladesh to feature in the IPL have all been included too.

"This is the Proteas like we have not seen them in a long time," Victor Mpitsang, South Africa's selection convener said. "The injection of the IPL players means that we will have a team that's ready to fire on all cylinders immediately and has vast experience of the conditions that we will be playing in. 

"The country can also join us in a collective sigh of relief at the return of Anrich Nortje, who has been working hard to recover from a frustrating injury. The National Selection Panel and I are really excited to watch our full strength Proteas take on the world's number one T20 team."

The first T20I will be played in Delhi on June 9 before the action shifts to Cuttack (June 12), Visakhapatnam (June 14), Rajkot (June 17) and Bengaluru (June 19).

Squad: Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Marco Jansen.