India's Rahul to lead for SA ODIs after Rohit injury

NEW DELHI - Indian opener KL Rahul will lead the ODI team in South Africa, national selectors said, after newly-appointed

white-ball captain Rohit Sharma failed to recover from a hamstring injury.

   Rohit was injured only days after being named India's ODI captain in
December, a promotion which completed his limited-overs captaincy takeover
from Virat Kohli.

   Star batsman Kohli, who stood down from the T20 job, was later sacked from
the 50-over format leadership.

   The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said Friday that Rohit
was "ruled out owing to an injury" and announced the 18-man squad for the
three-match series starting January 19 with pacer Jasprit Bumrah as vice-
captain.

   As India regulars across all three formats of the game, both Rahul, 29,
and Bumrah, 28, are seen by many as future leaders to replace Sharma, 33, and
the 33-year-old Kohli, who still leads the national Test team.

   Squad: KL Rahul (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli,
Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan
Kishan (wk), Y Chahal, R Ashwin, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC),
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj. BSS/AFP