Faf returns for hasty Indian trip

Whether he’ll make an impact again will only become apparent later, but the Proteas have recalled Faf du Plessis for the hasty ODI series against India later this month.

The 35-year-old veteran, who recently relieved himself from captaincy duties to focus on being a senior batsman, only made scores of 24, 15 and 5 in the T20 series against Australia and is currently being rested again for the ongoing 50-over series.

But one can’t exactly ignore the claims of a man who has scored over 5000 runs and averages 47 in ODIs.

Rassie van der Dussen also returns, while Kyle Verreynne, who made a decent 48 on debut against the Aussies at the weekend, has been retained.

Notable additions are Cobras left-arm spinner George Linde, who has the added string of being a good batsman to his bow, and Warriors seamer Lutho Sipamla.

“It is exciting to see the amount of competition for spots that we have within the team and in the franchises, it’s a good headache for us as selectors to have,” said independent selector Linda Zondi.

“We are satisfied with our picks for what will certainly be a challenging tour of India. We saw some promising performances last year from the T20 squad that travelled there and we wanted to give a player like George Linde another crack at the conditions which seemed to really suit him.

“We are also particularly pleased with the balance of youth and experience that we have achieved while our young leadership group continues to establish itself.”

Tabraiz Shamsi, arguably the Proteas’ most consistent bowler the past few weeks, won’t make the trip due to the imminent birth of his first child.

Proteas ODI squad: Quinton de Kock (c), Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Faf du Plessis, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Jon-Jon Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lundi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks, Anrich Nortje, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj.

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