The BCCI on Tuesday appointed Rohit Sharma as Team India’s T20I captain for the home series against New Zealand. It also announced India’s squad for T20Is against New Zealand. India is set to play 3 T20Is starting from 17th November.
Sharma will captain a 16-man squad for the three T20Is against New Zealand, starting 17 November, with fellow opener KL Rahul acting as the vice-captain. This will also be the first assignment of the new Head Coach Rahul Dravid, who takes over the reins from Ravi Shastri.
Virat Kohli, whose tenure as India’s T20I captain came to an end at the conclusion of their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup tournament, has not been included in the squad.
The squad sees a few fresh faces in the form of Venkatesh Iyer, Avesh Khan and Harshal Patel. It also sees the return of several familiar faces such as Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, among others.
Apart from the captain and vice-captain, five layers who were part of the World Cup squad have retained their places for the three-match series against New Zealand. The reserve players Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar and Axar Patel also find a spot in the squad.
India will look to start building towards the next T20 World Cup in Australia after a disappointing performance in the UAE which saw them losing their opening two games to Pakistan and New Zealand. Despite winning their last three games handsomely, India did not have enough points to qualify for the semi-finals.
India squad:
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.
Schedule:
1st T20I: 17 November, Jaipur
2nd T20I: 19 November, Ranchi
3rd T20I: 21 November, Kolkata
