{"id":25447,"date":"2025-11-28T09:54:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T09:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/28\/jaiswal-to-open-tilak-over-pant-at-4-indias-likely-playing-xi-for-1st-odi-against-south-africa-cricket-news\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T09:54:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T09:54:19","slug":"jaiswal-to-open-tilak-over-pant-at-4-indias-likely-playing-xi-for-1st-odi-against-south-africa-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/28\/jaiswal-to-open-tilak-over-pant-at-4-indias-likely-playing-xi-for-1st-odi-against-south-africa-cricket-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaiswal To Open, Tilak Over Pant At 4? India&#8217;s Likely Playing XI For 1st ODI Against South Africa | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"story-9737038\">\n<p><span class=\"jsx-395e0e0beb19cb6e jsx-4143937483\">Last Updated:<\/span><time class=\"jsx-395e0e0beb19cb6e jsx-4143937483\">November 28, 2025, 14:15 IST<\/time><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"asubttl-9737038\" class=\"jsx-77153e997a009dd0 jsx-1480646929 asubttl-schema\">In the absence of Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma are likely as opener and No. 4 batter for India in the series opener against the Proteas.<\/h2>\n<div class=\"jsx-cc1b15cf85effb8b artsharwrp\"><a href=\"https:\/\/news18.co\/gnps-en-btn\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"jsx-91f4da8d48c13a79 gglebtn bgylw\"\/><\/p>\n<div id=\"artshare\" class=\"jsx-cc1b15cf85effb8b artshare\">\n<div class=\"jsx-cc1b15cf85effb8b stickdiv\">\n<div class=\"jsx-cc1b15cf85effb8b deskwrapstkdiv\">\n<div class=\"jsx-cc1b15cf85effb8b fontchange\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.news18.com\/dlxczavtqcctuei\/news18\/static\/images\/english\/font.svg\" height=\"30px\" width=\"30px\" alt=\"font\" title=\"font\" class=\"jsx-cc1b15cf85effb8b lazyload\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"jsx-77153e997a009dd0 jsx-1480646929\">\n<figure class=\"jsx-77153e997a009dd0 jsx-1480646929 amimg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"India's likely playing XI for 1st ODI against South Africa. (Picture Credit: PTI, AFP)\" title=\"India's likely playing XI for 1st ODI against South Africa. (Picture Credit: PTI, AFP)\" src=\"https:\/\/images.news18.com\/ibnlive\/uploads\/2021\/07\/1627283897_news18_logo-1200x800.jpg?impolicy=website&amp;width=400&amp;height=225\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\"jsx-77153e997a009dd0 jsx-1480646929\"\/><\/p>\n<p>India&#8217;s likely playing XI for 1st ODI against South Africa. (Picture Credit: PTI, AFP)<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p data-pm-slice=\"0 0 []\">The first ODI of the three-match series between India and South Africa will be played at JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi on Sunday, November 30. In the absence of Shubman Gill, KL Rahul will captain the hosts, and the 15-member Indian all-rounder also features the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. In the absence of Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad are available options for India as openers, and there\u2019s a high possibility that Jaiswal will get preference over the Chennai Super Kings skipper, at least for the series opener.<\/p>\n<p id=\"1\" class=\"story_para_1\">Jaiswal, who has played only one ODI for India so far, was part of India\u2019s ODI squad in Australia as well but didn\u2019t get a chance to be part of the playing XI.<\/p>\n<p id=\"2\" class=\"story_para_2\">Virat Kohli, who scored two ducks in the first two ODIs against Australia but bounced back with an unbeaten half-century in the third ODI at Sydney Cricket Ground, will bat at his usual No. 3 position, and it will be interesting to see who out of Rishabh Pant and Tilak Varma gets a chance to play as a No. 4 batter in Shreyas Iyer\u2019s absence. Both Pant and Tilak haven\u2019t played an ODI match for India in 2025.<\/p>\n<p id=\"3\" class=\"story_para_3\">Since captain Rahul is India\u2019s first-choice wicketkeeper in ODIs, there\u2019s a possibility that Indian team management could consider playing specialist batter Tilak at No. 4. The left-handed batter from Hyderabad was India A\u2019s captain as well in the recently concluded three unofficial ODIs against South Africa A.<\/p>\n<p id=\"4\" class=\"story_para_4\">Rahul will bat at No. 5, and Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy are set to be the three all-rounders in India\u2019s XI. Kuldeep Yadav only played one ODI in Australia but is set to play all three ODIs against the Proteas, and the onus of fast bowling will rest upon the shoulders of Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh.<\/p>\n<p id=\"5\" class=\"story_para_5\">Prasidh Krishna is also part of India\u2019s squad, but it is highly unlikely that the Karnataka-based cricketer will get preference over Rana and Arshdeep.<\/p>\n<p id=\"6\" class=\"story_para_6\"><strong>India\u2019s likely playing XI for the 1st ODI against South Africa:<\/strong> Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (C &amp; WK), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jsx-77153e997a009dd0 jsx-1480646929 atbtlink Location\"><span>Location :<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Ranchi, India, India<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"jsx-77153e997a009dd0 jsx-1480646929 atbtlink fp\"><span>First Published:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"rs\">\n<p>November 28, 2025, 14:15 IST<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"jsx-77153e997a009dd0 jsx-1480646929 brdcrmb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/\">News<\/a>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/cricket\/\">cricket<\/a>  <span class=\"brdout\"> Jaiswal To Open, Tilak Over Pant At 4? India&#8217;s Likely Playing XI For 1st ODI Against South Africa<\/span><\/div>\n<div id=\"coral-wrap\" class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f \">\n<div class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f coral-cont\">\n<div class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f coltoptxt\">Disclaimer: Comments reflect users\u2019 views, not News18\u2019s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/disclaimer\/\" class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f\">Terms of Use<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/privacy_policy\/\" class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"jsx-77153e997a009dd0 jsx-1480646929 rmbtn news18_read_more\">Read More<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/cricket\/indias-likely-playing-xi-for-1st-odi-against-south-africa-ws-l-9737038.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last Updated:November 28, 2025, 14:15 IST In the absence of Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma are likely as opener and No. 4 batter for India in the series opener against the Proteas. India&#8217;s likely playing XI for 1st ODI against South Africa. (Picture Credit: PTI, AFP) The first ODI of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cricket"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}