CHENNAI: While Mumbai batter Suryakumar Yadav and Jharkhand’s Ishan Kishan have been named in the India squad for the first two Tests against Australia, Prithvi Shaw has been included in the T20I squad for the New Zealand bilaterals as the Indian cricket body announced as many as three squads late on Friday night.
As it has been the case with most of the squads selected by the previous selection committee, the new one, under the same chairman of selectors, Chetan Sharma, named the squads, which the BCCI announced through a release without any press conference.
The biggest highlight of the squads is the maiden Test call-up of Suryakumar and Kishan. The former has been the most consistent batter for India in 2022 and made a breezy 95 in the lone Ranji Trophy match he played for Mumbai this season.
An excellent player of spin, Surya’s inclusion could only be seen as a reward for the way he has performed since making his India debut in March 2021. Meanwhile, Kishan, who recently became the fourth Indian to score an ODI double century, too, has put up some impressive performances in the Ranji Trophy — century against Kerala. He would be fighting for a place with KS Bharat as Rishabh Pant is ruled out of the series after his car accident.
There is no mention of Jasprit Bumrah, who was ruled out of the Sri Lanka ODI series after being named initially, in any of the squads. Ravindra Jadeja’s inclusion for the Test series will be subject to fitness. Jaydev Unadkat, who made a comeback after a decade, has retained his place in the side for the two Test matches.
Shaw, who recently smashed a triple century against Assam, has not been included in Test squad, but has earned a long-overdue inclusion in the shortest format. Hardik Pandya will continue to lead the side in T20Is against New Zealand with not much changes from the team that played against Sri Lanka, Rohit Sharma will captain the team in the ODIs.
KL Rahul and Axar Patel were unavailable for the New Zealand Home series due to family commitments.
India’s bilateral series against New Zealand begin on January 18 with the 50-over format while the Test series against Australia start in Nagpur on Feburary 9.
Squad for New Zealand ODIs: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan (wk), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat (wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik.
Squad for New Zealand T20Is: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Suryakumar Yadav (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Prithvi Shaw, Mukesh Kumar.
Squad for the first two Tests against Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.