Mumbai, Oct 11 (IANS) Seasoned pacer Mohd Shami failed to find a place in the Indian Test squad for the upcoming three-match series against New Zealand with the national selectors deciding to hand over the vice-captaincy to Jasprit Bumrah.
The selectors dropped left-arm pacer Yash Dayal from the squad that played the two-match series against Bangladesh as they picked a 15-member squad which will be led by Rohit Sharma.
Bumrah, who has led the Indian team earlier, will get sufficient support from Mohd Siraj and Akash Deep. Shami suffered an injury during last year’s ODI World Cup and had undergone surgery after the event. It is apparent that the selectors are targeting a return for the Australia series for him.
The squad remains spin-heavy with Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav hoping to get into the three-pronged attack in the Playing XIs for the three matches that will be played in Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai.
Interestingly, the selectors also did not pick a backup opener with Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal set to take up the responsibility as they did against Bangladesh. Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel are the wicketkeeping options in the squad.
India’s squad for the three Tests against New Zealand:
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, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep.
–IANS
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