Ajinkya Rahane to lead India in first Test against NZ; Kohli to return for second Test

Indian Chief Selector recently announced a 16 member squad of India for two-match Test series where for the first match Rahane will be leading the side and Pujara will be his deputy and talking about the second match Virat Kohli will be back and will lead this side. The first Test match is scheduled in Kanpur from November 25th-29th 2021 followed by the second match in Mumbai on December 3rd-7th 2021 respectively.

Virat Kohli

The likes of Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Rishabh Pant will be rested for two-match series, and Jayant Yadav, KS Bharath received a call for the Indian test team. The surprising exclusion from the squad was not picking Hanuma Vihari and including him in India A squad for the South Africa tour. Let’s have a look at the 16 member squad in the description below.

Ajinkya Rahane (captain), K. L. Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), K. S. Bharat (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Md. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna as Kohli will be returning for the second Test.

Taking about Men in Blue performance in last few years in the longest format of the game has been simply exceptional as they finished as runner up in the inaugural edition of World Test Championship final which they lost against Black Caps by eight wickets on reserve day but the kind of performance Virat Kohli and company have given in bilateral series against Australia and England in Test cricket is simply phenomenal. 

India recently played 5 match Test series in England which they are leading by 2-1 at the moment with the final match of the series to be played next year. Virat Kohli as captain has brought a fearless approach to India’s test team and the way fast bowlers have performed all across the globe is simply incredible.