Mayank Yadav, Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana New Faces Among Four Named Reserves For IND-NZ Test Series – News18

Rohit Sharma leads the side and star pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been named to take up the role of the deputy captain, and the squad has seen no changes in the 15-man squad that featured against Bangladesh.

Shami who has not featured for India since the Men’s World Cup final against Australia in November last year continues to remain on the sidelines.

Left-arm pacer Yash Dayal, who was the 16th member of the squad in the Bangladesh series, has been left out.

Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mayank Yadav and Prasidh Krishna were named as the travelling reserves for India’s upcoming three-match Test series against Tom Latham’s New Zealand.

Mayank and Nitish recently made their international debuts in the T20I series against Najmul Hossain Shanto’s Bangladesh and did not let their teams down.

After being cruelly denied the opportunity of a lifetime due to injury, Nitish Kumar Reddy made his mark for India with the bat and the ball during the second T20I vs Bangladesh in New Delhi.

With the bat, Nitish would go on to light up the skies with confidence, putting up a fiery 74 runs in just 34 balls, an innings peppered with 4 fours and 7 sixes.

He would also go on to dazzle with the ball, registering a spell of 2/23 in 4 overs, as he scalped the ever-important wicket of Mahmudullah to kill the visitors’ spirits in their chase.

Similarly, Mayank Yadav has also plied his trade, scalping a wicket each in both of the outings so far against Bangladesh in the T20Is.

Harshit, who has been included in India’s T20I squad against Bangladesh, is yet to make an appearance in the series, but remains hopeful.

With the squad consisting of young brimming talents, Ryan ten Doeschate dropped a subtle hint about India trying new faces in the final T20I.

“Yeah, that was always the plan. Obviously, there’s nice depth in the squad, and a lot of guys have got IPL experience. We try to expose as many guys as we can to international experience with what we’ve got coming up. So someone like Harshit Rana we’re keen to give a game to. Obviously, Tilak came into the squad a bit later,” he said in the pre-match press conference on the eve of the final T20I against Bangladesh.

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, Mohammad Siraj, Akash Deep

Travelling Reserves: Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mayank Yadav, and Prasidh Krishna