India announce squad for New Zealand Tests, no Mohammed Shami in the squad

India has announced the 15-man squad for the upcoming three-match Test series against New Zealand. Veteran pacer Mohammed Shami has not been picked as he continues to recover from ankle injury, which he suffered in 2023.

Shami last played for India in the final of the World Cup 2023 against Australia in Ahmedabad and since then he has been recovering from injury. The fast bowler from Bengal also underwent the knife and will look to make a solid comeback.

Squad for New Zealand Tests is almost the same as it was the two-match series against Bangladesh. Yash Dayal, who was picked as 16th man for Bangladesh Tests, has been left out by the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel.

Furthermore,, three fast bowlers – Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav, and Prasidh Krishna – have been picked as travelling reserves along with all-rounder Nitish Reddy, who impressed in the T20I series against the Tigers.

Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah has been named as the vice-captain of the team. It has been reported that Bumrah could lead India in the opening Test match against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar trophy in the absence of Rohit Sharma, who could miss out due to personal reasons.

India will kick off the Test series against the Kiwis at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru commencing on October 16.

India squad for New Zealand Tests: 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.