India announce 18-man squad for South Africa Tests.

Known as "The Hitman" because of his powerful hundreds and six-hitting, Sharma took over the T20 side in November after India's dismal showing at the World Cup in Dubai and led a series sweep at home against New Zealand.

The 34-year-old replaced Virat Kohli, who stepped down as short-format skipper in September citing his "immense workload," and who has now yielded the ODI captaincy.

Kohli will helm the three-Test series in South Africa starting Dec.26 — a tour delayed and shortened because of fears over the spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India named Ajinkya Rahane to the squad despite the veteran batsman's dry spell and absence from Monday's thumping second Test win against New Zealand in Mumbai.

Ravindra Jadeja, Shubman Gill, Axar Patel and Rahul Chahar were all out due to injury.

Squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), K.L. Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R. Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj.

Standby players: Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswalla.

December 26-30, first Test, Centurion

January 3-7, second Test, Johannesburg

January 11-15, third Test, Cape Town

Agence France-Presse