India’s squad for the six-match ODI series against South Africa was announced with skipper Virat Kohli returning to the squad.

There was also a recall for pacers Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Shami in the 17-member touring party.

Middle-order batsman Kedar Jadhav also returns to the squad after being sidelined due to a hamstring injury which kept him out of the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka.

There was, however, disappointment for opening batsman KL Rahul who missed out on the squad despite some solid showings against the islanders.

Rahul has scored two impressive fifties in the first two T20Is but chief selector MSK Prasad said the batsman missed out since he was only considered for the opening position where Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma are the preferred pair.

“The class and the form he is in, it’s really unfortunate that he is missing out. Right now, I think those boys who are already there in the squad have done well, so it makes sense to continue.

“Maybe in times to come, KL (Rahul) will definitely get a look in. We will try and see that he will be fit into different options. So, probably after this series we will have to think about that,” said Prasad.

Chahal and Kuldeep continue to be India’s preferred spin options.

The wrist-spin pair of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav continue to find favour with the selectors over Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja who were once again ignored for selection.

Prasad said: “They (Ashwin and Jadeja) have played enough cricket and have enough number of wickets under the belt. The only issue is we have tried these guys (Chahal and Yadav) and time and again they are winning games for you, so it makes sense to continue with these guys for some time.”

From the side which won the ODI series against Sri Lanka, youngsters Washington Sundar and Sidharth Kaul have been left out while Shreyas Iyer continues to keep his place in the squad.

The six-match ODI series gets underway with the first match at Durban on February 1.

INDIA 17-MAN SQUAD

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