{"id":14606,"date":"2025-11-05T14:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T12:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/pant-returns-to-india-squad-for-test-series-against-sa\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:27:08","slug":"pant-returns-to-india-squad-for-test-series-against-sa","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/pant-returns-to-india-squad-for-test-series-against-sa\/","title":{"rendered":"Pant returns to India squad for test series against SA"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\" data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\">Rishabh Pant will make his return to India&#8217;s squad for the two-test series against South Africa (SA) , the country&#8217;s cricket board announced on Wednesday, marking his comeback from a foot fracture that sidelined him from the series against West Indies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Pant missed the 2-0 series drubbing of West Indies last month after fracturing his foot during a test match against England in September, with Dhruv Jurel stepping in to keep wickets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Pant proved his match fitness in style last week in a game between India A and SA in Bengaluru, where the 28-year-old scored 90 in the second innings to guide his team to a three-wicket victory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Fast bowler Akash Deep also returns to the squad after missing the West Indies series.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Several players such as skipper Shubman Gill and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will join the team after the ongoing Twenty20 series in Australia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The first test of the series against SA begins on November 14 in Kolkata before they move to Guwahati for the second test from November 22.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">SA have skipper Temba Bavuma back in the squad after a calf injury kept him out of the series in Pakistan last month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">India are third in the World Test Championship while reigning champions SA are fourth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13859,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-14606","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"SA have skipper Temba Bavuma back in the squad.","published_date":null,"news_description":"SA have skipper Temba Bavuma back in the squad.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/14606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/14606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19195,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/14606\/revisions\/19195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=14606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}