BCCI announces India’s Test squad for South Africa series; Rishabh Pant returns

On Wednesday, November 5, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a strong 15-man Indian Test squad for the forthcoming two-match series against South Africa, starting on Friday, November 14 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

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The interesting talking point is keeper-batter Rishabh Pant has returned to the Test set-up, replacing back-up keeper N Jagadeesan. On the other hand, Akash Deep replaced Prasidh Krishna in the Test squad that defeated West Indies 2-0 earlier last month.

For the unversed, Pant missed the West Indies series after he sustained a foot fracture during the fourth Test against England in the Anderson Tendulkar Trophy in July. Akash Deep, on the other hand, was recovering from a back injury, which ruled him out of the Duleep Trophy 2025-26 campaign. 

Since gaining his full fitness, Pant played the first four-day game against South Africa A, scoring an exceptional 90-run knock at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground in Bengaluru last week, captaining India A to a comfortable win. On the other hand, Aakash Deep has played two Ranji Trophy games for Bengal since recovering from a back injury.

Notably, Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar will join the Test squad after the ongoing five-match T20I series against Australia Down Under. Meanwhile, Kuldeep Yadav has been released from the T20I squad to take part in the second four-day game against South Africa A, starting on Thursday, November 6.

While the first Test will be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata from November 14, the second Test commences on November 22 in Guwahati. India is currently ranked at the third spot in the WTC 2025-27 standings with 61.90% points. 

India’s Test squad for South Africa series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep.

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