IND vs SA: Shardul Thakur, Kedar Jadhav return for ODI series

Middle-Order batsman Kedar Jadhav and speedster Shardul Thakur made a comeback into the 17-member Indian ODI squad for the six-match series in South Africa in February.

Speedster Shardul Thakur

No place for Ashwin, Jadeja
The two seasoned spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, were once again ignored as the selectors persisted with the wrist-spinning duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal along with left-arm orthodox Axar Patel.While Virat Kohli comes back as captain, paceman Mohammed Shami also figured in the ODI squad in which most of the current limited overs regulars were automatic picks.

Shreyas Iyer has been rewarded for his good show against Sri Lanka in the ODIs, with his maiden overseas tour with the senior team. Maharashtra batsman Jadhav, who is also a handy off-spinner is back after a hamstring injury ruled him out of the Sri Lanka ODIs. Mumbai speedster Shardul has replaced Siddharth Kaul, who did not get to play a match during the Sri Lanka series. Chairman of selectors MSK Prasad made it clear that they are looking to give Yadav and Chahal a longer rope since they had decided to look at wrist spinners after the Champions Trophy.

Thumbs up for tweakers
"We keep on repeating that after Champions Trophy, we tried with the new boys - Chahal and Kuldeep - and we are being consistent with Axar," Prasad said after the selection meeting.

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