Indian Test squad for NZ series announced; Ajinkya Rahane to lead, Virat Kohli to join from 2nd Test, Rohit Sharma rested

KEY STORY

• The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Friday (November 12) announced the Indian squad for the upcoming two-match Test series against New Zealand. Opener Rohit Sharma has been rested for the Test series while regular skipper Virat Kohli will join the squad from the second Test. Ajinkya Rahane will lead the squad in the first Test while Cheteshwar Pujara has been named the vice-captain.

• “Virat Kohli will join the squad for the 2nd Test and will lead the team,” BCCI said in a statement.

• India’s Test specialist Hanuma Vihari has been dropped from the squad while Shreyas Iyer has been named in the 16-man squad. Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah – who have been spearheading India’s pace attack, have also been rested for the two Tests along with Rishabh Pant while KS Bharat has been named in the squad as a back-up wicketkeeper to Wriddhiman Saha.

• In Kohli and Sharma’s absence, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Pujara, Rahane and Iyer will form India’s top-order in whites.

• Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna are the pacers named in the squad while Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Axar Patel and Jayant Yadav are the four spinners.

India’s squad for NZ Tests:

A Rahane (C), C Pujara (VC), KL Rahul, M Agarwal, S Gill, S Iyer, W Saha (WK), KS Bharat (WK), R Jadeja, R Ashwin, A Patel, J Yadav, I Sharma, U Yadav, Md Siraj, P Krishna

India and New Zealand will play two Tests against each other in the upcoming series that kicks off on November 17 with three T20 Internationals. The two matches will be played at Kanpur and Mumbai respectively from November 25 and December 3.

Sharma was recently named India’s T20I skipper and he will lead the team in the three-match T20I series which will be his first full-time assignment as India’s T20I captain.

Keeping the players’ workload in mind, it was speculated that senior players will be rested for the Test series following a packed schedule in the last six months.