Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad practice in the nets ahead of the 1st South Africa ODI in Ranchi. (PTI)With India set to start the white-ball leg of the South Africa series, there has been a lot of speculations on where Ruturaj Gaikwad will play. Gaikwad has been in hot form, slamming 210 runs in 3 ODIs for India A against South Africa A recently which helped him return to the national side. Former India batter Aakash Chopra, however, does not see Ruturaj coming back into the playing XI just yet.
“According to me, Yashasvi Jaiswal with open the Indian innings with Rohit Sharma. Why? 2 reasons. Firstly, the left-right combination and secondly, in the pecking order Yashasvi is a little bit ahead of Ruturaj. It’s an important series for Jaiswal because he has come in place of the captain. So even if you don’t get much chances, the ones you get, you have to grab them,” Chopra posted on X.
“Virat Kohli will come in at no.3, KL Rahul, the captain will come in at No.4. Rishabh Pant will be at No.5 and if you are thinking, why not Tilak Varma, then let me remind you that when India won the Champions Trophy, Rishabh Pant was a part of that squad. The person who was there then has to play here. After Pant, Nitish Kumar Reddy will come in at 6, then Ravindra Jadeja at 7, Washington Sundar at 8, Harshit rana can come at 9. If you are thinking why Rana will be at 9, because it’s pretty simple. In the last ODI, Rana had played, he had taken 4 wickets. Kuldeep will come in at 10 and at 11, I’ll pick Arshdeep Singh,” he added while selecting the rest of his team.
Will Ruturaj feature in India's XI vs SA at Ranchi? #Aakashvani #INDvsSA pic.twitter.com/01mN6pUq23
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) November 29, 2025
India are coming into the ODIs after getting whitewashed by the Proteas in the Test series. They will also be without regular skipper Shubman Gill and vice captain Shreyas Iyer who were both ruled out of the series due to injuries.
Gill had sustained a neck injury in the 1st Test at Kolkata which led to him missing the 2nd Test in Guwahati while Iyer was badly hurt while fielding in the ODI series vs Australia last month.
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