Middle-order batsman Kedar Jadhav and speedster Shardul Thakur were back in the 17-member India squad for the six-match ODI series in South Africa but KL Rahul failed to make the cut despite back-to-back half-centuries in the T20 series against Sri Lanka.
Senior spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were once again ignored by the selectors, who backed the young trio of slow bowlers - wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav along with left-arm spinner Axar Patel.
"We keep on repeating that after Champions Trophy, we tried with the new boys - Chahal and Kuldeep - and we are being consistent with Axar," Prasad said after the selection meeting here.
"With the big games, they are definitely improving a lot and we all felt and it's a unanimous decision that they should be given an extended role, since they are doing well. They should be backed," he added.
Squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.