IND vs SA: Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya back as BCCI announces T20I squad

Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya made their much-awaited return to international cricket as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) picked them both in the squad for a five-match T20I series against South Africa, set to be played from December 9 to 19. Gill has been named as vice-captain, but the board said his availability will be subject to fitness.

The upcoming five-match T20I series will be India's penultimate bilateral assignment before the T20 World Cup. India will play five more T20Is against New Zealand before they head to the big event, starting in February.

Shubman Gill was ruled out of the ongoing ODI series against South Africa after he missed the last of the two-match Test series due to a neck



injury. Shubman was hospitalised in Kolkata after he suffered a neck injury while batting in Kolkata in the first Test against South Africa in November.

Gill reached the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) for rehab on Monday. Gill completed one unrestricted batting session at the CoE, responding well with no flare-up of symptoms. Gill is scheduled to play his final RTP (Return to Play) clearance match on Thursday.

INDIA SQUAD FOR T20I SERIES VS SOUTH AFRICA

Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma, Sanju Samson, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar.