Captain Rohit Sharma was on Friday ruled out of India's upcoming ODI series in South Africa due to a hamstring injury, forcing the selectors to appoint KL Rahul as skipper of an 18-member team for the white-ball leg of the tour.
All-rounder Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja were also not selected as they were not fit while senior pacer Mohammed Shami, who is in the team for the ongoing Test series, was rested.
Pacer Jasprit Bumrah was named as vice-captain of the team.
"Rohit Sharma is not fit, he is in rehab and he is not going for the ODI series in South Africa. He is working on and building on his fitness. We never wanted to take chance with him," chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma said before announcing the team.
"We are looking to groom KL Rahul. He has proved his leadership qualities. KL is the best one who can handle the side.
"Yes, definitely, we are looking at KL Rahul at present, he is an all-format player and he has got good experience of captaincy, and the most important (thing) is we can see he has proved his leadership qualities, this is what all selectors think.
"Rohit is not fit, so we thought KL will be the best one, who can handle the side and that's why we have good confidence in (Rahul) and we are grooming him."
The three-match ODI series will begin at Paarl on January 19. The second match will also be played at Paarl on January 21 while the third one will be at Cape Town on January 23.
Rohit and Jadeja were rehabilitating at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru after being ruled out of the ongoing Test series in South Africa due to injuries.
In fact, the selection meeting was supposed to be held earlier -- just after the Vijay Hazare Trophy — but it was pushed back only to ensure that Rohit gets a chance to pass the fitness test.
"We thought if Rohit is 100 per cent fit, there is no chance for injuries, then he should not miss an important series. If he is not 100 per cent fit, we thought we will not take a chance and all the five selectors decided not to take a chance," Sharma said.