Hardik Pandya returns as India’s T20 squad against South Africa announced

Dubai: Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who recently missed the T20I series against Australia, is set to return as India announced their squad for the upcoming T20I series against South Africa beginning December 9 in Cuttack.

This will be Pandya’s first international T20I appearance since India’s Super Four match against Sri Lanka at the 2025 Asia Cup in September. He had been ruled out of the Asia Cup final against Pakistan — won by India — and the white-ball tour of Australia due to injury. Pandya demonstrated his match readiness on Tuesday while turning out for Baroda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Suryakumar Yadav will captain the side, while Rinku Singh, part of the squad for the Australia T20Is, has been left out for the South Africa series.

Shubman Gill, who suffered a neck injury during the first Test of the recently concluded two-match series against South Africa in Kolkata, has been named in the squad after missing the second Test and the ODI series. However, he must secure fitness clearance from the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (COE) before taking part in the five-match home series.

The five T20Is will be played across Cuttack (Dec 9), Mullanpur (Dec 11), Dharamsala (Dec 14), Lucknow (Dec 17), and Ahmedabad (Dec 19).

Earlier, South Africa defeated India 2—0 in the Test series, while India currently lead the three-match ODI series 1—0.

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