3 clear indications from India's squad for the South Africa ODI series ft. Ruturaj Gaikwad

Having gone down 2-0 in the Test series against South Africa, India will shift their attention to the 50-over format. The Men in Blue will face off against the Proteas in three ODIs.

The first ODI will commence in Ranchi on Sunday, November 30. India are one of the world's best teams in the format, although they are on the back of a loss at the hands of Australia.

The selectors have had to make some important decisions due to injuries, and there were a few changes in the squad they have named for the rubber.

India squad for the South Africa ODI series: KL Rahul (c), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel.

On that note, here are three clear indications from India's squad for the South Africa ODI series.

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#3 India perhaps don't attach much value to the outcome of the South Africa ODI series

India v Australia: Final - ICC Men's Cricket World Cup India 2023 - Source: Getty

Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj played both Tests against South Africa, and their workload in the Guwahati encounter was rather high. Nevertheless, with Bumrah having missed out on the Australia ODIs as well, he perhaps could've been picked.

Moreover, Hardik Pandya is expected to feature in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy but hasn't been named in the ODI squad. There was a chance the hosts would've picked him, especially in the absence of names like Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer in the batting department.

India seem to have erred on the side of caution. They perhaps don't attach too much importance to the series, with the T20 World Cup on the horizon and the ODI World Cup a fair distance away.

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#2 Performances for India A will be rewarded, to an extent

India v Australia - ODI Series: Game 2 - Source: Getty

India needed batting backups without Shreyas and Gill. While they had a number of options to choose from, including Sai Sudharsan, Riyan Parag and Abhishek Sharma, they seem to have rewarded good performances for the A team in recent times.

Ruturaj Gaikwad piled on the runs in the recent one-dayers against South Africa A, while Tilak Varma was the captain in that assignment. The duo have been named in the contingent to take on the senior team, while the other aforementioned names have been ignored.

Gaikwad has often gotten the short end of the stick, but seeing him being recognized for his prolific scoring was a welcome sight.

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#1 Picking Varun Chakaravarthy in the Champions Trophy was a horses-for-courses move

India v New Zealand: Final - ICC Champions Trophy 2025 - Source: Getty

Varun Chakaravarthy played a starring role in India's Champions Trophy campaign, but hasn't made the two squads since. While it was understandable that he wasn't picked to tour Australia, he was expected to feature in home conditions against the Proteas.

However, Varun hasn't been named in the squad. This indicates that the selectors do not view him as an option for the 2027 World Cup and only picked him in the Champions Trophy squad because of conditions in the United Arab Emirates. That might be a bit harsh on the Tamil Nadu man, who has been in stellar form in T20Is lately.