BCCI announced the Indian squad for the South Africa Test series on Thursday. While not many surprises were there, a few decisions led to a lot of conclusions. Interestingly, there were a lot of changes compared to India’s last Test series, which was against West Indies. On that note, here, we take a look at five players who were in India’s last Test squad but are not selected for the South Africa series.
1) Axar Patel
Axar Patel is one of the players who were in India’s last Test squad but are not selected for the South Africa series. It is interesting that Axar is not a part of the Test squad. It is not a long Test series and more than two spinners might not be needed in South Africa.
Nevertheless, after Axar comes back to India, he will shift focus to the England Test series that will happen at home. He will be really important for that competition.
2) Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane was India’s vice-captain for the West Indies Test series. Now, he is out of the squad. It might also be the end of the road for the Mumbai man.
India now has plenty of options in the middle-order. The likes of Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul will all compete for a role in the middle order.
3) Jaydev Unadkat
Jaydev Unadkat is also one of the players who were in India’s last Test squad but are not selected for the South Africa series. India needed some experience and a left-arm pace option for West Indies. Hence, Jaydev Unadkat was a part of the team.
However, as expected, he did not get a chance to travel to South Africa. For Jaydev, he might have to do it all over again to get back in the Indian Team. The Ranji Trophy is not far away. If he can do well, he could get selected in the upcoming Test squads.
4) KS Bharat
The career of KS Bharat has been slightly surprising so far. He was Rishabh Pant’s backup for a long time. But he did not get a lot of games to prove his potential.
Ishan Kishan took over the gloves and had a decent run with the bat. India might need a left-arm batting option and hence, Ishan has got the nod. Also, with KL Rahul in the side, India might need a backup wicket-keeper. Hence, Bharat is out of the squad.
5) Navdeep Saini
Saini is also a part of this list of players who were in India’s last Test squad but are not selected for the South Africa series. Despite not being at his best in domestic cricket, Saini has been getting chances in the Indian squad frequently. However, he is not getting to be a part of the XI.
Now, Saini is not even in the squad. It has to do with the player’s recent domestic form. Also, the likes of Mukesh Kumar have done well and Prasidh Krishna is seen as a good candidate for the red-ball formats.
