Rishabh Pant returns to India’s Test squad for South Africa series

Rishabh Pant returns to India’s Test squad for the two-match series vs South Africa beginning on November 14 in Kolkata. N Jagadeesan is replaced by Pant and medium pacer Akash Deep overtakes Prasidh Krishna. visit

Both Pant and Akash had to pull out from the West Indies Tests owing to injury. Pant has recently underlined his match fitness guiding India A to a win over South Africa A in a four-day match in Bengaluru, where he also blasted 90 in the second innings.

India Test captain Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy are on T20I duty in Australia but they would be joining the Test squad after the final game on November 8. Kuldeep Yadav, arguably dropped from the main squad after three wickets at 71 for his IPL side Kolkata Knight Riders this season, has been released early to play the second India A four-day game instead to get him some more time with a red ball.

The second match of the series kicks off in Guwahati on November 22 – it will be first time that the city stages a Test match.

India are currently third in the World Test Championship points table (61.90%) and South Africa fifth (50%).

India Test squad vs South Africa

Shubman Gill (capt), 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

Meanwhile, selectors also named the India A squad for the one-day series against South Africa A in Rajkot. Tilak Varma will lead, with Ruturaj Gaikwad as vice-captain.

India A ODI squad vs South Africa A

Tilak Varma (capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Ishan Kishan (wk), Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Vipraj Nigam, Manav Suthar, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Prabhsimran Singh (wk)

India vs South Africa Test Series 2025 – Schedule