Pacer Umesh Yadav, who was in the squad for the recent West Indies tour, was also dropped.
The Indian opener KL Rahul's on Thursday was dropped from the Indian test team, while the talented young Shubman Gill due to his outstanding performance was rewarded with a call for the three-match series against South Africa.
Thus Rahuls dropping opens the door for Rohit Sharma to take the opening slot inside.
"We want to give Rohit Sharma the opportunity to open the opening in the test," said selection manager MSK Prasad on Thursday after the selection meeting held in New Delhi on Thursday.
Pacer Umesh Yadav was also dropped.
Rohit will be heading the Board Presidents XI, which will take on South Africans in a three-day match in Vizianagaram from 26 September this year.
Gill, 20 years old was an expected addition after he top-scored for India A in the West Indies tour and became the man of the series. Thus he became the youngest Indian to score a first-class double hundred during the series.
His exclusion from the Carribean assignment last month was highly criticized.
Indias first test against South Africa will take place on 2ndOctober at Visakhapatnam, while the second and third matches will be played in Pune (10-14 October) and Ranchi (19-23 October).
Indias squad for three-Test series:Virat Kohli (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill
Board Presidents XI:Rohit Sharma (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, AR Easwaran, Karun Nair, Siddhesh Lad, KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Jalaj Saxena, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Avesh Khan, Ishan Porel, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav
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