Karthik back in India colours; Arshdeep, Umran get a call up 

Mumbai

Dinesh Karthik, Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik earned spots in the India squad for the five-match T20I home series against South Africa, which commences at New Delhi on June 9.

Captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested for the series. The trio will feature in the rescheduled fifth Test against England, which will be held in Edgbaston (Birmingham) from July 1 to 5.

K.L. Rahul will lead the T20I side in Rohit’s absence.

Karthik, 36, makes a comeback after a brilliant IPL season as finisher for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Malik impressed with his raw pace for Sunrisers Hyderabad, while left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh performed well for Punjab Kings. Malik and Arshdeep earned their maiden international call-ups.

Hardik Pandya, who has led Gujarat Titans to the top of the IPL points table, has been named in the T20I squad.

Batter Cheteshwar Pujara, who was dropped for the recent home Test series against Sri Lanka, has been included in the squad for the rescheduled fifth Test.

T he schedule:

T20Is against South Africa: 1st: June 9 (Delhi), 2nd: June 12 (Cuttack), 3rd: June 14 (Visakhapatnam), 4th: June 17 (Rajkot), 5th: June 19 (Bengaluru).

Fifth rescheduled Test against England: July 1-5 (Birmingham).

The teams:

T20Is: K.L. Rahul (Capt.), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (Vice-capt.) (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, and Umran Malik.

Test: Rohit Sharma (Captain), K.L. Rahul (vice-captain) Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (wk), K.S. Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, and Prasidh Krishna.