Fit-again Gill, Pandya picked for T20I series against South Africa

Flamboyant all-rounder Hardik Pandya and star batter Shubman Gill on Wednesday returned to the Indian T20I squad for the upcoming five-match series against South Africa after recovering from their respective injuries.

Gill, who missed a major part of the Test series and the ODIs against South Africa due to a neck injury, has been picked for the T20 games as vice-captain after recovering from his condition. Gill's participation, however, is subject to fitness clearance from the BCCI Centre of Excellence, the board said in a statement.

Pandya, who missed the Asia Cup 2025 final and the five-match series in Australia, also made a comeback in India's setup after proving his fitness on Tuesday during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against Punjab in Hyderabad.

Gill, who is India's Test and ODI skipper, sustained the injury during the opening Test against the Proteas in Kolkata. He was subsequently ruled out of the second Test in Guwahati and the ODI series that followed.

The selection committee meeting to pick the T20 squad took place here on Wednesday. The five-match series begins December 9 in Cuttack. The other matches are scheduled in Chandigarh (December 11), Dharamsala (December 14), Lucknow (December 17) and Ahmedabad (December 19). Suryakumar Yadav is the regular T20I skipper for India.

India squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC)*, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar.