India vs New Zealand 2021: Rohit Sharma named captain for T20I series

Rohit Sharma has been named India’s new T20I captain as the BCCI on Tuesday announced a 16-member squad for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand starting later this month. KL Rahul has been appointed as vice-captain of the team.

As expected Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah has been rested for the T20I series. Senior leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal made a comeback after missing out on the T20 World Cup squad. Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, and Deepak Chahar, who were in the T20 World Cup reserves are now in the main squad. Pacer Mohammad Siraj has been added to the mix.

New faces

All-rounder Venkatesh Iyer, who was arguably the find of the IPL 2021 has been picked for the T20I squad. Iyer could be a backup for Pandya going forward. The 26-year-old has scored 370 runs at an average of 41.11 with four half-centuries and grabbing three wickets. Ruturaj Gaikwad, who featured in Sri Lanka recently also return to the squad. Gaikwad was the orange cap holder of IPL 2021, becoming the youngest player to win the Orange Cap with 635 runs.

Harshal Patel, the top wicket-taker of the IPL season has also made it to the squad. The RCB fast bowler picked whooping 32 wickets in 15 matches at a strike rate of 10.56 in IPL 2021. He also equaled the record of Dwayne Bravo, picking most wickets in tone season. Although he made his IPL debut way back in 2012, this IPL proved to be his breakthrough season. His slower deliveries have been the most difficult to pick for batsmen in the IPL this season. He has picked crucial wickets in the middle and death overs and has been Virat’s, go-to man.

India’s T20I squad

Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (Vice-Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Mohd. Siraj