India was below par at the ongoing T20 world cup where two successive defeats to New Zealand and Pakistan were enough to ousted them from the tournament and it was a gap of 9 years and six successive semi-finals that India could not qualify for the knockouts of a world cup. Indian batting line up choked when it really mattered the most and the bowling line-up looked off-colour where the non-selection of some players raised some eyebrows as well.
India will be put to test in a full fledged series against New Zealand, who will be playing T20 world cup final against Australia on 14th November. New Zealand have been too good for the Indian side when it comes to the world cup as they have got the better of the men in blue in the world test championship finals and the ongoing T20 world cup recently. India will have a challenge to test their young guns in the T20 series which will mark the start of Rohit Sharma’s era in captaincy and Rahul Dravid as the head coach, followed by a test series, which they will be raring to win to make their way to the top in the World Test Championship points table.
Rohit Sharma, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, and pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami have been rested for the test series following BCCI’s workload management policy.
Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal and Deepak Chahar were called back to the T20 squad while Harshal Patel, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Avesh Khan will be the new entrants.
Schedule
1ST T20 International: 17th November 2021, Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur from 7:00 PM IST
2nd T20I: 19th November 2021, JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi from 7:00 PM IST
3rd T20I: 21st November 2021, Eden Gardens, Kolkata from 7:00 PM
1st Test: November 25-29, Green Park, Kanpur from 9:30 AM
2nd Test: December 3-7, Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai from 9:30 AM
Squads
India
India’s Test squad for NZ series: Ajinkya Rahane (c), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara (vc), Shubman Gill, S Iyer, Wriddiman Saha (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, J Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohd Siraj and Prasidh Krishna. Virat Kohli will lead the side from 2nd test.
India’s T20 squad for NZ series: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (Vice-Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Mohd. Siraj
New Zealand
New Zealand’s T20 squad for India series: Kane Williamson (captain), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Kyle Jamieson, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi and Tim Southee
New Zealand’s test squad for India series: Kane Williamson (captain), Tom Blundell (wicketkeeper), Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Will Somerville, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner and Will Young
