Jasprit Bumrah named vice-captain as BCCI announce India squad for three Tests against New Zealand

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The BCCI on Friday (October 11) announced the India squad for the three-match Test series against New Zealand starting October 16 in Bengaluru.

Apart from young pacer Yash Dayal, the Men's Selection Committee has picked the same squad which recently registered a 2-0 win over Bangladesh. However, Jasprit Bumrah has been appointed the designated vice-captain of the Rohit Sharma-led Test team this time.

Bumrah recently dethroned his teammate Ravichandran Ashwin as the number one ranked bowler in Test cricket. He was also the leading wicket-taker in the series against Bangladesh alongside Ashwin. Both the stalwart bowlers picked 11 wickets apiece.

Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel and Yash Dayal did not get to play any of the two Test matches against Bangladesh. All except Dayal have retained their places. Dayal would be back playing for Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25.

Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep are the three pacers in the 15-member squad. Mohammed Shami's name continues to be missing even though secretary Jay Shah has already made an unofficial statement that the recovering cricketer would travel to Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in November-January.

The retention of the same bunch of players in two back-to-back Test series has also given a big hint on what could be India's core team for the five Tests against Australia. Considering the long nature of the series, additional few players are expected to be added.

India's squad for the three Tests against New Zealand: 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