5 players who were unlucky to miss out from India's ODI squad for South Africa series

The Indian selectors have announced the 17-member squad that will take on South Africa in a six-match ODI series following the three-match Test series early next year.

There were no surprises in the squad named with the selectors deciding to send the strongest possible team to take on the Proteas.

They didn't pick India's spin-twins in Tests, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, for the ODI series in the rainbow nation and one can safely say that the team management are in favour of grooming the wrist spinners ahead of the 2019 World Cup instead of falling back to Ashwin and Jadeja.

In spite of clearing the Yo-Yo test, veterans Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh were not included in the side as the duo have been struggling to score in the domestic circuit.

Let us take a look at five players who missed out from the Indian squad for the South Africa tour.

Squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami and Kedar Jadhav.

Siddarth Kaul

Ahead of the ODI series against Sri Lanka, Punjab fast bowler Siddarth Kaul was picked in the Indian team. It was a deserved call-up for the 29-year-old as he had been breathing fire in this format in the domestic circuit.

Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to feature in a single match and prove himself. He was not included in the squad for the South Africa series as Mumbai's Shardul Thakur regained full fitness and took his place in the side.

Kaul has been consistent in the List A format, scalping 98 wickets in 52 matches at an average of 22.20.

He was included in the India A squad that took on the visiting England side earlier this year and was also a part of the triangular series (for the A teams) in South Africa, where he finished as the third-leading wicket-taker.

Basil Thampi

In the 2017 IPL, one player who caught everyone's eyes was Gujarat Lions' rookie bowler Basil Thampi and the Kerala pacer was deservingly awarded the Emerging Player of the Tournament.

Since then, he has been at the receiving end of praise from the former and current Indian players, thanks to the way he has bowled. Thampi is a fantastic death bowler who has a lethal yorker in his armory.

He was included in the India A side for the tri-series in South Africa and the following New Zealand A series in which he performed fairly well. He was rewarded for his good work when he was called up to the Indian squad for the ongoing T20I series against Sri Lanka.

Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to play in the first two matches. With Thampi being one of the four bowlers to travel to South Africa along with the Indian Test side, he will get used to the conditions in the Rainbow Nation ahead of the ODI series.

Rishabh Pant

Over the last two years, Rishabh Pant has been attracting a lot of attention with his performances in the Indian domestic circuit. In spite of being just 19, he made his T20I debut for India earlier this year. He had a brilliant IPL to back up his outstanding first-class season and has been on the selectors' radar for quite some time now.

Though he didn't tour England with the team for the Champions Trophy, he was picked in the side that toured West Indies. Unfortunately, he wasn't considered for selection in the ODIs but played the one-off T20I following which he was dropped from the side.

He has been doing a decent job in the ongoing Ranji Trophy and should have been picked in the side as the second wicketkeeper ahead of one of the middle-order batsmen.

Umesh Yadav

Over the last year, Umesh Yadav has been with the Indian ODI squad and has featured in the playing XI on a consistent basis until being dropped for the New Zealand ODIs and the Sri Lanka series that followed.

In his place, the selectors gave Shardul Thakur another chance as the Mumbaikar was with the Indian squad till the New Zealand series before being left out for the Sri Lanka series due to an injury he sustained in the Ranji Trophy.

With the selectors picking Mohammed Shami in the squad, they could have easily gone for an experienced Umesh instead of someone like Shardul.

KL Rahul

61 off 48 balls in the first match followed by 89 off 49 balls in the second T20I, KL Rahul registered significant scores in the ongoing T20I series against Sri Lanka. In spite of this, he was not picked in the Indian ODI squad for the South Africa series.

Earlier this year, when India toured Sri Lanka, it was announced that Rahul would bat at number 4 and the Karnataka got to bat at that position just twice in the whole series before he was dropped for the subsequent ODI series against Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

The team management changed their mind and conceded that Rahul would bat at the top of the order in ODIs and with Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane for competition, he has remained out of the ODI side recently.

He deserved to be in the squad for the South Africa series just for the way he played against Sri Lanka, but the selectors had other ideas, deciding to make Rahul wait for his chances in the format.