Rohit Sharma will lead a 16-man squad that has been announced for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand. India will host New Zealand for three T20Is and two Tests, starting on November 17. The series will kick off with the three T20Is to be played in Jaipur (November 17), Ranchi (November 19) and Kolkata (November 21). Virat Kohli has been rested for the series and from the first Test.
The series will also be Rahul Dravid’s first assignment as Team India Coach and the start of the Rahul-Rohit Era. Ravi Shastri spoke about Dravid inheriting a brilliant team going forward and one which can attain even more success going forward.
While the BCCI has identified some young talents from the domestic circuit, they have ignored a few players who were worthy of getting selected in the squad. Venkatesh Iyer’s selection has been the highlight of this India squad selected for the series. He scored nearly 400 runs for the season and picked up a few wickets as well. He has been in red hot form in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy churning up performances for Madhya Pradesh.
Meanwhile, questions are being raised on the selection policies of BCCI after a few notable omissions. In this article, we take a look at three players who deserved a chance to play the New Zealand series but will not be able to.
3 Players Who Faced The Axe In India’s T20I Squad For NZ Series
Mayak Agarwal
The first name that comes to mind is Mayank Agarwal. He has been playing Test cricket on and off for India but has failed to break through the ODI and the T20I side. One expected him to be included in the series given that the senior players of the team were rested. His good mate KL Rahul is the vice-captain of this side with Rohit Sharma leading the pack.
Mayank could have been included in place of Rahul who ideally deserves a break after playing continuous cricket since the UAE leg of the IPL. The right-hander was the second-highest run-getter in for his side this season with 441 runs from 12 games at an average of 40.09 and a strike rate of over 140.
Prithvi Shaw
Shaw was another player who deserved a chance in this Indian T20I squad. He played well in the last T20I series India played against Sri Lanka. The right-hander then carried on his form in the IPL as well scoring a major chunk of runs in the second half of the IPL.
He was in blazing form in the second half of the season scoring runs for fun. He was a good option at the top of the order in the series but Shaw was denied of that opportunity as India look for a restart after their woeful World Cup campaign.
Ravi Bishnoi
Haryana spinner Ravi Bishnoi was another deserving player who missed out on a spot in the T20I squad. He would have been a perfect bowler to be unleashed to a side that has not seen him at all in international cricket.
Bishnoi picked up 12 wickets this season for Punjab Kings and posed all kinds of problems for the opposition batters. He would have been the perfect foil to Yuzvendra Chahal as the two would have formed a deadly bowling pair.
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