Hardik is skipper for T20Is in New Zealand; Vihari dropped for Tests against Bangladesh

India will be touring New Zealand for a white-ball series comprising three T20Is and as many ODIs after the World T20 in Australia.

Hardik Pandya will lead India’s T20I squad in the series in New Zealand next month while Ravindra Jadeja will return for the tour of Bangladesh in December if he clears the fitness test.

While the selectors have rested all the seniors for the limited-overs tour of New Zealand, set to begin less than a week after the ongoing T20 World Cup, Shikhar Dhawan will lead the ODI side in New Zealand.

Hanuma Vihari has been dropped from the Test squad while Cheteshwar Pujara, Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill are all set to join Virat Kohli in the middle-order. Ravi Bishnoi has been omitted from the white-ball teams.

Fast bowler Kuldeep Sen has earned a maiden call-up for the ODI series in Bangladesh. Umran Malik, too, features in the T20I and ODI squads.

Chief selector Chetan Sharma, after what is likely to be the last meeting of the current selection committee, announced the squads for the tours of New Zealand and Bangladesh. Chetan stressed that none of the seniors asked to be rested for the New Zealand tour. “No one asked for rest. The selection committee, based on discussions with the team management and medical team, decides how to manage the workload of every player,” said Chetan from Adelaide at a virtual interaction.

For T20Is in New Zealand: Hardik Pandya (Capt.), Rishabh Pant (Vice-capt. & wk), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson (wk), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umran Malik.

For ODIs in New Zealand: Shikhar Dhawan (Capt.), Pant (Vice-capt. & wk), Gill, Hooda, Suryakumar, Shreyas, Samson (wk), Washington, Shardul Thakur, Shahbaz Ahmed, Chahal, Kuldeep, Arshdeep, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen and Umran.