Earlier in January, Rohit led India to thrash the Proteas by seven wickets in the second Test, a match which took only 107 overs and was completed on the second afternoon.
Sharma now returns to lead his team in the T20 format, alongside key player Virat Kohli.
Both last played a T20I in November 2022, when India lost to England in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup in Australia.
The 2024 T20 World Cup takes place in the West Indies and the USA in June.
The three-match T20I series opens in Mohali on 11 January, followed by Indore on 14 January and Bengaluru on 17 January.
India T20I squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.
© Agence France-Presse
Photo: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
