Rohit, Kohli rested for South Africa T20s; Umran Malik earns maiden call-up; Karthik, Hardik return

Umran Malik, the tearaway Indian quick, has received his maiden call-up to the national side for the T20Is against South Africa. Malik joins an Indian outfit that will be without Virat Kohli.

Umran Malik is scaring the batsmen with his searing pace. He is leaving them with scars. And many more Indian youngsters are waiting in the wings to do just the same.

Umran Malik, the tearaway Indian quick, has received his maiden call-up to the national side after being included in the squad to play five T20Is against South Africa in June. Malik joins an Indian outfit that will be without senior stars Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli after the national selectors decided to rest some familiar names following the grind of IPL 2022.

KL Rahul will take the reigns over the T20I side while Rishabh Pant was named his deputy.

Malik, who recently clocked 157 kph, possibly the fastest ball in IPL history, is also the fifth-highest wicket-taker this IPL, with 21 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 20 and economy rate of 8.93. In his first full IPL season with the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Malik boasts the second-best figures so far this season (5 for 25). However, it is his ability to trouble the batters with breakneck speed that has thrust him into the spotlight.

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Seasoned India wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik also made a comeback into the T20I squad after a span of three years. The 36-year-old has been in sizzling for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL), scoring 287 runs from 14 innings at a strike-rate of 191.33. Left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh also received a call-up to the national side after an impressive season with the Punjab Kings.

Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja who were ruled during the IPL 2022 season has been omitted from the squad while wicket-keeper Sanju Samson was dropped.

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Meanwhile, Kohli seemed to have found back some of his lost touch with a 54-ball 73, his highest score this IPL, in Royal Challengers Bangalore's win over table-topper Gujarat Titans in their last league game. Kohli and RCB would hope the innings would mark the beginning of the end of a wretched run for the former Indian skipper, during which he bagged three golden ducks in this IPL.

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Earlier, in an interview with Star Sports, Kohli had said he was open to taking a break to 'rejuvenate' himself mentally.

The five-match T20I series against South Africa will begin on June 9.

T20I squad: KL Rahul (Capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (vc) (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, R Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.