IND vs SA: What changes have India made to their squad for the South Africa series from the Australia series?

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday, December 3 revealed the 15-member squad for the T20I series against the South Africa Cricket Team. The two teams will be crossing swords with each other in the five-match T20I series, starting on December 9 in Cuttack.
The Indian Cricket Team will be captained by Suryakumar Yadav in the T20I series against South Africa, while Shubman Gill has been added to the team. He is battling from neck injury and his availability will be subject to the fitness clearance from the COE.
Hardik Pandya too has been named in the Indian squad for the T20Is against South Africa. He will be making a return after a long injury break. The all-rounder played a superb knock in the SMAT 2025 for Baroda against Punjab and helped his team win.
The IND vs SA series will be important for India as it will be the second-last series for them before the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. Hence, they would be keen to fill in all the bases and head into the tournament high on confidence with all bases covered.
IND vs SA: What changes have India made to their squad for the South Africa series from the Australia series?
The Indian squad for the T20Is against South Africa has seen one major change. Hardik Pandya has been added to the team in place of Nitish Kumar Reddy. The latter was part of the squad for the Australia series but has now been dropped for Hardik.
Also, Rinku Singh has been dropped from the side and this came as a massive shock. Kuldeep Yadav who was released from the squad of the last two T20Is against Australia has also been added to the team.
Changes:
Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav - IN
Nitish Kumar Reddy, Rinku Singh - OUT
India squad for the T20I series against South Africa
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
Note: * Subject to fitness clearance from BCCI COE.
India vs South Africa T20I series schedule
| Sr No. | Day | Date | Time | Match | Venue |
| 1 | Tuesday | 09-Dec-25 | 7:00 PM | 1st T20I | Cuttack |
| 2 | Thursday | 11-Dec-25 | 7:00 PM | 2nd T20I | New Chandigarh |
| 3 | Sunday | 14-Dec-25 | 7:00 PM | 3rd T20I | Dharamsala |
| 4 | Wednesday | 17-Dec-25 | 7:00 PM | 4th T20I | Lucknow |
| 5 | Friday | 19-Dec-25 | 7:00 PM | 5th T20I | Ahmedabad |