India named a familiar 16-member squad for their five-match T20I series in New Zealand starting January 24, leaving out Sanju Samson from the squad which took on Sri Lanka in the just-concluded T20I series at home.
Vice-captain Rohit Sharma and pacer Mohammed Shami were named after being rested for the three-match series against Sri Lanka which India won 2-0. The first match was washed out.
Wicket-keeper batsman Samson had played the third T20 international against Sri Lanka in Pune, scoring six runs.
Shikhar Dhawan retained his place in the side after making a comeback from injury and finding form against Sri Lanka. With in-form KL Rahul in the mix, it will be interesting to see who opens the batting with Rohit, who is a certainty.
The selection committee, under outgoing chairman MSK Prasad, kept the ODI and Test squads on hold for the time being.
"There are no surprises in the Indian T20 squad with Rohit as usual coming back in place of Sanju, who is already in New Zealand with the A team. All the other players picked themselves," a senior BCCI official privy to selection matters told PTI on the condition of anonymity.
It is believed that Hardik Pandya's latest fitness drama could be the reason for the delay in announcing the ODI and Test squads.
A BCCI release mentioned that Hardik Pandya’s rehabilitation process is taking “longer than expected”.
T20 Squad for Tour of New Zealand: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Manish Pandey, Shivam Dube, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami
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