South Africa name 15-man squad for T20 World Cup; Faf Du Plessis, Chris Morris left out

Cricket South Africa (CSA) has announced the squad for the T20 World Cup, set to be played in UAE and Oman from October 17. Former skipper Faf du Plessis has been left out of the squad. Du Plessis has not played for South Africa since the T20I against England at Newlands in December 2020. Also, all-rounder Chris Morris and veteran spinner Imran Tahir too misses out on a spot. The Proteas instead have gone in Wiaan Mulder and Dwaine Pretorious as all-around options. Meanwhile, George Linde, Andile Phehlikwayo, and Lizaad Williams will travel with the team as reserves. 

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Quinton de Kock and Henrich Klaasen are the two wicket-keeping options while David Miller, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram are quality options with the bat. South Africa have gone with a strong pace attack and included Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi while Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj are the two specialist spinners.

Having lost five back to back T20I series, South Africa picked up some momentum and claimed T20I series wins over West Indies and Ireland. They have three T20Is against Sri Lanka left to fix their jigsaw before the T20 World Cup.

South Africa are placed in a relatively tough group, clubbed together with ODI World Champions England, defending champions West Indies, Australia and two other teams from the qualifiers. South Africa will kick off the Super 12s of the showpiece event with a game against Australia on October 23 in Abu Dhabi. They play West Indies in Dubai on 26th October before playing against two qualifying teams on October 30 and November 2 in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi respectivey. They’ll take on England in the final match of the Super 12s on November 6 in Sharjah.

South Africa squad for T20 World Cup: Temba Bavuma, Keshav Maharaj, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, W Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen.