India skipper K.L. Rahul was on Wednesday ruled out of the five-match T20 International series against South Africa due to a right groin injury. Kuldeep Yadav, too, will miss out in the T20I series after getting hit on his right hand while batting in the nets last evening.
"KL is out of whole series and Rishabh Pant will lead the team as he is the designated deputy," a senior BCCI source told PTI on Thursday.
It is understood that Ruturaj Gaikwad will open the batting alongside Ishan Kishan in the series-opener on Thursday.
The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant as captain and Hardik Pandya as vice-captain.
The selection committee has not named replacements for Rahul and Yadav. They will now report to the NCA where the medical team will assess them further and decide on the future course of treatment.
India’s T20I squad: Rishabh Pant (Captain)(wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.