India's squad for Sri Lanka T20s, South Africa Tests announced

New Delhi: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday announced Indian Cricket team squad for Sri Lanka's T20s and three-match Test series against South Africa.

Bumrah has received his maiden Test call-up, while Parthiv has been selected as the back-up wicketkeeper.

India has included seven pacers and two spinners for South Africa Tests.

While announcing the squad, BCCI chairman of selectors M.S.K. Prasad said this is the best balanced side for the tour.

"This is the best balanced side, I am sure this team will really do well," he told reporters after the selection committee meeting here.

"With regard to Bumrah if you see his performance for the past 10-12 months, he has been phenomenal. It's a unanimous choice and he definitely adds variety.

Commenting on chinaman Kuldeep Yadav's absence from the squad, Prasad said: "Definitely feel unfortunate for Kuldeep Yadav but selecting him over the World No 1 & 2 bowlers (Ravichandran Ashwin & Ravindra Jadeja) won't be fair."

Prasad also said that veteran star Yuvraj Singh was ignored as he has not played too much competitive cricket in recent times.

"Yuvraj Singh has fitness issues. He has not played a lot of competitive cricket lately," Prasad said.

The team will leave for South Africa on December 27.

India squad for Sri Lanka T20Is: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah, M Siraj, B Thampi, Jaydev Unadkat

India squad for South Africa Tests: Virat Kohli (Captain), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Parthiv Patel, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami