Why KL Rahul Was Picked as ODI Captain Over Rishabh Pant as India Announce ODI Squad vs South Africa

India have named KL Rahul as captain for the upcoming ODI series against South Africa, starting November 30. The move comes at a time when the team is dealing with multiple injuries, including Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer who are both unavailable.

Rahul gets the role because of his steady run in ODIs over the last two years. He has played 35 innings since 2023 and scored 1332 runs with two hundreds and seven fifties. The selectors felt he was the safest option among the available players.

Rishabh Pant, who returns as the main wicketkeeper for the series, was not considered for the captaincy. He has had very little ODI game time in recent years. He played 12 ODIs in 2022, none in 2023 and only one in 2024. Rahul will play as a specialist batter in this series.

A BCCI official made it clear that this is not a long term move. The board expects Gill to recover in time for the New Zealand ODIs in January 2026. Until then, Rahul’s appointment is simply to fill the gap caused by injuries.

“Rahul’s captaincy is one off and should be seen in isolation. Rishabh was not considered as he has played only one ODI in the last one year. The selectors expect Shubman Gill’s neck injury to heal and he will be back for the New Zealand series,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying by NDTV Sports.

The series against South Africa will give Rahul a chance to guide a slightly inexperienced batting group. For Pant, it offers more match time in the format where he has been away for long. India will hope the short term changes help them stay settled until their first choice players return.

India ODI Squad vs South Africa

Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (C) (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel