The left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav has been released from the T20I squad against Australia and will be returning to India to prepare for the upcoming test series against South Africa.

He has been included in the India A squad for the second four-day game against South Africa A, beginning on November 06 at the BCCI‘s COE in Bengaluru.

India A won the first game on Sunday after Rishabh Pant scored 90 runs in a chase of 275. The India board (BCCI), in a statement the request to release Kuldeep Yadav had come from the team management.

“The Indian team management has requested to release Kuldeep Yadav from the ongoing T20I series in Australia to allow him to participate in the India A series against South Africa A at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. The second four-day match starts on 6th November.”

Kuldeep Yadav had played only one of the three ODIs and the first two T20Is in Australia. He was left out of the Xl for the third T20I in Hobart, where Washington Sundar took his spot.

“The decision has been taken to provide Kuldeep with red-ball game time in preparation for the upcoming Test series against South Africa,” the board added.

Kuldeep Yadav played in the 2nd T20I game, where he picked two wickets for 45 runs in 3.2 overs.

He was part of the playing 11 in the first T20I, which was called off due to rain. India levelled the series thanks to an all-round performance led by Washington Sundar and Arshdeep Singh.

The fourth match of the T20I series in India’s tour of Australia 2025 will be played on November 06 at Heritage Bank Stadium.

India’s Updated Squad for Australia T20Is: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (vc), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.

India A squad for 2nd four-day game: Rishabh Pant (c & wk), KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Sai Sudharsan (vc), Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed, Gurnoor Brar, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Akash DeepKuldeep Yadav