Rishabh Pant returns for South Africa T20s, one star player fears becoming the scapegoat

India vs South Africa T20i Series: Following the Guwahati Test, India and South Africa will play a 3-match ODI series starting November 30, followed by a five-match T20 series from December 9. A 15-member squad for the ODI series has recently been announced. The squad for the T20 series will be announced soon. Before this, it was believed that Rishabh Pant might make a comeback in this shortest format of cricket, having played his last T20 match for India on July 28 last year against Sri Lanka in Pallekele. Along with this, there is talk that Sanju Samson could be made a scapegoat upon his return.

Ignored during Australia tour as well

It is worth noting that Sanju Samson was part of the Indian T20 team for the tour of Australia. He got an opportunity in the playing XI for the first T20 during that time, but due to the match being washed out by rain, he did not get a chance to bat. After this, in the second match, he was unexpectedly sent in at number 3, where he could only score 2 runs, and unfortunately, India lost that match. Although India won the series 2-1 by winning the next two matches, Sanju Samson was not included in the playing eleven in the remaining three matches.

Sanju out of T20 World Cup 2026 plans!

After being sidelined in this manner during the Australia tour, it is believed that Sanju Samson might be excluded from the team's T20 World Cup 2026 plans. This is because he is not finding a place in the top order, and now he is not getting opportunities in the middle order either. Despite this, his T20 statistics are remarkable. He is the only batsman for India in this cricket format to have scored three centuries.

Rishabh Pant's T20 statistics

On the other hand, talking about Rishabh Pant's T20 record, he has scored a total of 1209 runs in 66 innings of 76 T20 matches for India so far, at an average of 23.25 and a strike rate of 127.40. He has scored three half-centuries during this period. It is believed that the team management might select Pant as the primary wicketkeeper-batsman and include Jitesh Sharma in the team as an additional wicketkeeper-batsman.

Did not get a place in the ODI team either

It was initially hoped that due to the injuries of Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill, the selectors might pick him for the ODI series against South Africa as well. However, the selectors chose Ruturaj Gaikwad in their place. Gaikwad last played an ODI International for India in 2023. Similarly, Pant might also make a comeback in the T20 team.

Probable Indian Squad for the upcoming T20 Series

Abhishek Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant (Wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, and Jitesh Sharma.