Kanpur: After a clean sweep in the T20 series, India will take on New Zealand in the opening match of Test series at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur on Thursday (November 25). With the World Test Championship in sight, the hosts will look to have an edge over the side they lost to in WTC final a few months and will look for a redemption against their nemesis.
Ajinkya Rahane will lead the side with the absence of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are both in the first Test, while Rohit has been rested for the entire series, Kohli will come back for the second match in Mumbai.
India got their big blow ahead of the series as KL Rahul has been ruled out of the series due to an injury on Tuesday with Suryakumar Yadav coming in for the Karnataka lad.
As it stands, youngster Shubman Gill, who could get his opportunity to bat in middle order now probably have to open the innings with Mayank Agarwal. The stand-in skipper Rahane has also confirmed that Shreyas Iyer will make his debut while the experienced Wriddhiman Saha might come into the XI in place of Rishabh Pant who had also been given rest.
However, it will be interesting to see how the bowling unit will look like with the absence of frontline seamers like Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. A possible XI with three spinner might be on the cards as well. In that case, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin should be the two first choice with one Axar Patel or Jayant Yadav could squeeze into the XI.
As for the Kiwis, their maestro Kane Williamson will return to the side in the Test series, having taken a break from the T20Is. Seamer Trent Boult would not be available for selection though with Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, and Neil Wagner in the house, the visitors would not have to worry much.
The Kiwis also have spinners in their ranks as well with Ajaz Patel, Rachin Ravindra, and Mitchell Santner read perform in the Indian pitches Which could deteriorate as the Test progresses.
India’s Test squad: Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Md. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
New Zealand Test squad: Kane Williamson (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham (wk), Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Will Somerville, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner and Will Young.
