Rishabh Pant returns, star pacer dropped as India announce 15-man squad for IND vs SA 2025 Test series

As expected, star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will be back in action for India during the upcoming home Tests against South Africa. India announced a 15-member squad on Wednesday, November 6.

Rishabh Pant missed the recent home Test series against the West Indies as he was still recovering. He had sustained a major foot injury during the away series against England. Pant was also named vice-captain upon his return to the side. He replaced Narayan Jagadeesan.

Shubman Gill will continue as captain. Notably, star pacer Prasidh Krishna was dropped as Akash Deep returned. Akash Deep played three Tests in England and missed the West Indies series due to injury. He replaced Krishna in the squad.

The rest of the squad remained pretty much the same from the previous West Indies series.

India squad for South Africa Tests: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (WK) (VC), KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep.

The first Test will begin on November 14 and will be played at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Guwahati will play host to the second Test, which is set to begin on November 22.

All eyes on Rishabh Pant as 28-year-old eyes grand return

Rishabh Pant will be in the spotlight as he returns to the Test squad for the South Africa series. He was in exceptional form before being away from action due to injury. Pant played a key role as India drew the series 2-2 in England.

He scored 479 runs from seven innings at an average of 68.42 with two hundreds and three half-centuries. Ahead of the South Africa series, the southpaw displayed brilliant form as he captained India A against South Africa A in Bengaluru.

Pant scored 90 runs in the second innings as India A won the game by three wickets. While he will want to do well on his return, all eyes will also be on him and his performance.

Pant has played 47 Tests so far. He has scored 3427 runs at an average of 44.50 with eight hundreds and 18 half-centuries.

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Edited by Rishab Vm