The BCCIOn Friday (October 11), the Indian National Cricket Team announced its squad for the upcoming three-match Test series Against New Zealand. The 15-member Indian team will be led by Rohit Sharma.
High-flying India will look to continue their dominance at home by celebrating yet another series win. After beating Bangladesh 2-0 a few days ago, the Indian team will try to put up a similar performance against New Zealand. A clean sweep of the series will see India reach the final of the ICC World Test Championship for the third time in a row.
India’s squad for New Zealand series announced
Mohammed Shami was expected to feature in the squad, but the fast-bowling missed out once again. Shami has not played a competitive game since last November’s World Cup final. He suffered an ankle injury and is yet to return.
The selectors avoided making too many changes to the Indian squad that beat Bangladesh in the two-match Test series. Left-arm batsman Yash Dayal, who was the 16th member of the squad for the match against Bangladesh, was ruled out for the New Zealand series.
Other members have kept their places in the squad. The selectors also named four travel reserves – Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav and Prasidh Krishna. Both Reddy and Mayank recently made their India debut in the T20I series against Bangladesh and hit the ground running. On the other hand, Krishna has represented India in the past while Rana is yet to play a game for India.
Jasprit Bumrah has been appointed as the vice-captain of the Indian team in Tests
The biggest update in India’s new squad is the appointment of Jasprit Bumrah as the vice-captain. While Jasprit Bumrah was appointed vice-captain for the series against South Africa and England earlier this year, he was not named as the vice-captain for the series against Bangladesh.
There were rumors that Shubman Gill could be appointed as the new vice-captain. However, the selectors appointed Jasprit Bumrah as the vice-captain once again, making it clear that he is seen as Rohit Sharma’s successor.
Speaking of New Zealand, they are coming to India after an unfortunate series defeat in Sri Lanka. They suffered heavy losses in both Tests against the Islanders and will look to make amends in the upcoming series. With just 3 wins from 8 games, they are all but out of the WTC final race and will be looking to finish their campaign on a high.
The India vs New Zealand series is scheduled to be played from October 16. The first test will be held in Bengaluru.
India’s squad for the three Tests against New Zealand:
Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Akhar PatelKuldeep Yadav, Mohd. siraj, Akash Deep
Traveling Reserves: Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mayank Yadav and Prasidh Krishna
