Senior spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja again failed to make the cut as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a 17-member squad for the six-match ODI series in South Africa to be played in February.

Skipper Virat Kohli, rested for the ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka, will lead the side named on Saturday. Mohammed Shami, Kedar Jadhav and Shardul Thakur have been recalled. Jadhav, who suffered a hamstring injury on the eve of the first Sri Lanka ODI in Dharamsala, is expected to be fit when the limited-overs series starts on February 1.

Neither Jadeja nor Ashwin has featured in the limited-overs team since India’s tour of the West Indies soon after the June ICC Champions Trophy. And with the rapid rise of the wrist-spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, the comeback seems difficult.

“After the Champions Trophy, we tried new boys Chahal and Kuldeep), and we’re also being consistent with Axar (Patel). They’ve done reasonably well and with every game they’re improving a lot. We all felt since they’re doing well, they should be backed,” chairman of selectors MSK Prasad said at the press conference.

Senior spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja again failed to make the cut as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a 17-member squad for the six-match ODI series in South Africa to be played in February.

Skipper Virat Kohli, rested for the ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka, will lead the side named on Saturday. Mohammed Shami, Kedar Jadhav and Shardul Thakur have been recalled. Jadhav, who suffered a hamstring injury on the eve of the first Sri Lanka ODI in Dharamsala, is expected to be fit when the limited-overs series starts on February 1.

Neither Jadeja nor Ashwin has featured in the limited-overs team since India’s tour of the West Indies soon after the June ICC Champions Trophy. And with the rapid rise of the wrist-spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, the comeback seems difficult.

“After the Champions Trophy, we tried new boys Chahal and Kuldeep), and we’re also being consistent with Axar (Patel). They’ve done reasonably well and with every game they’re improving a lot. We all felt since they’re doing well, they should be backed,” chairman of selectors MSK Prasad said at the press conference.

The selectors have picked Dinesh Karthik, the former India wicketkeeper, for the last few tours, but that is no permanent solution. “We’re grooming some wicket-keepers in the India A tours. More or less, we’ve fixed our mind till the (2019) World Cup. After that we’ll start grooming some of those wicket-keepers.

“Let me tell you frankly that the boys are still not up to the mark what we had expected. So, we’ll keep giving them chance and see their maturity level,” Prasad said.

“MS Dhoni still remains the No 1 wicketkeeper in the world. Day in day out we’ve been saying that. Even in the current series, his stumping has been terrific. He’s phenomenal. There’s no comparison. I don’t see any other wicketkeeper in world cricket, let alone Indian cricket,” the former India stumper added.