KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer were the common names in India’s squads announced for the upcoming five-match home T20I series against South Africa and for the rescheduled fifth Test against England at Edgbaston.
India’s strong 18 and 17-member squads announced for the upcoming home T20Is against South Africa and the fifth Test against England respectively, had quite a few highlights with young names being included, but it does leave a critical question behind.
While it was largely expected that India would name two entirely different squads for the two series, with one of Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya or Shreyas Iyer the likely T20I captaincy candidates, selectors named KL Rahul, Pant and Iyer in both squads with a packed calendar ahead.
India name squads for the home T20I series against South Africa and the Test tour of England 🚨#INDvSA #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/DmQUlckYP2
— CricXtasy (@CricXtasy) May 22, 2022
The five-match T20I series begins on June 9 – which is in less than two weeks after the conclusion of the ongoing IPL 2022 – and concludes on June 19, with the warm-up game against Leicestershire in build up to the fifth England Test scheduled to begin on June 24.
India also have two T20Is lined up in Ireland on June 26 and June 28, and a warm-up T20I against Derbyshire on July 1, the same day on which the fifth Test starts.
If Rahul, Iyer and Pant participate in the entirety of the South Africa series, and leave for England a day later, they will have to miss the warm-up fixture for certain if there’s a mandatory quarantine of at least a week with the Covid-19 protocols in place.
Another possibility could be of the Indian trio leaving the home T20I bubble midway to leave for the England tour early, but that appears unlikely with Rahul and Pant being named the captain and the vice-captain respectively. Both have been a key part to India’s Test setup in recent times. While Pant orchestrated India’s historic 2-1 series-clinching win against Australia in Brisbane last year, and has been the side’s premier Test wicketkeeper, Rahul had excelled during the first leg of the England Test series last year, and later in South Africa.
Shreyas Iyer had scored a hundred on his Test debut against New Zealand in Kanpur in November 2021, becoming the 16th Indian to achieve the milestone, before excelling in the home T20Is and the lone Test against Sri Lanka before the IPL.
With Rahul and Pant being definite starters at present in India’s Test setup, and the Edgbaston Test holding key in the World Test Championship 2023 points table, it remains to be seen how the duo are allowed to manage their workload in a packed schedule.
For now, it appears likely that they’ll miss the warm-up game in build up to the series decider against England.
