Team selector: Pick your India Test XI to face New Zealand
Team Selector: Pick your India XI to face New Zealand for the upcoming series that kicks off tomorrow at Kanpur.
The World Test Championship finalists will take on each other in a two-Test match series in India. While India will look to avenge their recent ICC tournament losses, New Zealand will attempt to create history by winning their first-ever Test series in the country. And there are some WTC points up for grabs as well.
India’s ever-busy schedule ensures that a number of their senior players miss out on this series. Thus, it becomes an opportunity for their back-up players to present a good case for themselves.
Now that KL Rahul has been ruled out due to injury, one can expect that India will open with a settled combination of Shubman Gill and Mayank Agarwal, but there are a number of questions with respect to the middle-order. Also, one can never rule out a ‘Nagpur 2010’ scenario when last minute changes are needed.
Will Pujara and Rahane continue to find a place in your XI? India might have chosen Shreyas Iyer, but would you have gone for the exuberance of Suryakumar Yadav?
Will you give the gloves to a tried and tested face in Wriddhiman Saha, or look to the future in K Srikar Bharat?
India have four spinners and four pace bowlers in their squad. These resources are aplenty, but this also gives rise to a number of selection quandaries. Will you play the more experienced duo of Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav, or does Mohammad Siraj find a place in your XI?
If you decide to go ahead with three spinners, who will be the third man?
India Squad for the first Test: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Md. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
