Accoridng to the latest reports of India Today, India’s deputy skipper in Test cricket, Ajinkya Rahane will lead the Indian team in the opening Test of the two-match series against New Zealand as regular captain, Virat Kohli will be missing the first game. The first Test between India and New Zealand starts on November 25 at the Greenpark Stadium in Kanpur.
Kohli is all set to take a long break starting soon and will also be missing the upcoming first Test against New Zealand. However, Virat will return for the second Test match at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, and resume the captaincy in the longest format.
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Rahane is India’s vice-captain in the longest format of the game and also led the team to a historic Test series win Down Under against Australia earlier this year in Kohli’s absence. In the past, when Kohli has missed a Test, a rare occurrence, Rahane has filled into his shoes.
Ajinkya Rahane led the Mumbai team in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy, and they failed to go beyond the group fixtures after losing to Karnataka and Chhattisgarh. Before these Test series, India and New Zealand will be locking horns with each other in a three-match T20I series.
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On Tuesday, the BCCI has finalized the squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against New Zeland at home and announced that Rohit Sharma will be leading the squad and KL Rahul will be performing the role of his deputy. Venkatesh Iyer, Avesh Khan, and Ruturaj Gaikwad have received maiden national call-ups for the series.
Schedule for the T20Is against New Zealand
- November 17: First T20I, Karachi
- November 19: Second T20I, Ranchi
- November 21: Third T20I, Kolkata
India T20Is squad against New Zealand: 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
