Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have taken a break from the white-ball leg against South Africa.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been rested for the white ball series against South Africa as the selectors announced the Test, ODI and T20I squads for the month-long tour.

India will be going to South Africa’s all-format tour with three teams, distinctly different from the other and led by three separate captains. This is happening, partly, because of the congested scheduling.

However, both Kohli and Rohit are a part of the Test squad. 

KL Rahul has been named as ODI captain while Suryakumar Yadav will lead in the shortest format. Suryakumar is currently leading India against Australia in T20I series at home.

On the other hand, Rohit will be back to captain in the two Tests. Jasprit Bumrah has been named the vice-captain for the Test matches.

Meanwhile, the BCCI stated that both Rohit and Virat requested for a break from the white-ball leg of the tour. Along with Rohit and Virat, pacer Mohammed Shami is also a notable absentee in ODIs and T20Is as he is currently undergoing medical treatment.

Mohammed Shami has been included in the Test team subject to fitness since he is going medical treatment.

While the BCCI didn't specify the nature of injury, sources said that the medical team has conveyed to the selectors that the pacer has a good chance to be fit for the Test series.

With India scheduled to play only three more T20Is (against Afghanistan) after the South African tour, a call on the big names and their role could well be deferred until the beginning of IPL 2024.

With Ravindra Jadeja named T20 vice-captain and Axar Patel dropped, that’s one clear selection call on who is ahead in the race. Pacers Avesh Khan and Prasidh Krishna have made way for Mohammed Siraj and Deepak Chahar.

The Indian team will depart for South Africa on December 6 with the T20s first-up (Dec 10-14), followed by the ODIs (Dec 17-21) and finally the two Tests (Dec 26-Jan 11) to be played. 

The Tests will be part of the new World Test Championship cycle. India got off to a winning start with a series win against West Indies (1-0). The South Africa tour also has two four-day A matches - other than the intra-squad match – where India will be leading.

India’s squad for 2 Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Mohd. Shami*, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna.

India’s squad for 3 T20Is: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar.

India’s squad for 3 ODIs: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (C)(wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar.