IND vs NZ: India have named their 15-member squad ahead of the home series against New Zealand, which will commence in the upcoming week.
The squad would remain the same from the victorious Bangladesh series; however, Jasprit Bumrah will step in as Rohit Sharma’s deputy in the Indian test squad.
Only the young pacer, Yash Dayal, who missed his test debut against Bangladesh, has now been dropped from the squad against New Zealand while spinner Axar Patel returns to the Indian team.
After the early scare against Sri Lankan spinners, many teams with the likes of immediate opponents India have identified how the Kiwi spinners are loose to spin, and hence India have included the likes of a full spin bank with Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, and also Kuldeep Yadav.
India has left out the option of having backup openers, as the skipper Rohit Sharma will be the only opening batsman alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal. Even the likes of Dhruv Jurel and Rishabh Pant remain as India’s wicket-keeping options.
The middle order also seems very identical, while the chances of Sarfaraz Khan’s inclusion into the squad seem very unlikely despite his irresistible form in the domestic circle, especially after his terrific double-century in the Irani Cup final.
The pace bowling deck is restored from the previous two-match series against Bangladesh, as they have the likes of pacers Jasprit Bumrah, Siraj, and the newly included India pace rising star, Akashdeep.
Also, the likes of India’s latest debutant, Mayank Yadav, have also been placed as a traveling reserve in the pace bowling deck alongside Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna. Also, debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy, the all-rounder who has recently made a stir in Indian cricket with his T20 cricket debut, is also kept as the first-ever all-rounder since Hardik Pandya played his final test back in 2018.
India Squad for New Zealand Tests: 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, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep
Reserves: Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mayank Yadav, and Prasidh Krishna
The series will be held from the 16th of October, as the first test begins in the M.Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru, while the next two tests will be held in Pune and Mumbai. Currently, India sits at the top of the WTC cycle, and they have the maximum points in the points table as Rohit and Co. eye their third consecutive entry into the World Test Championship finals.
