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In Rohit Sharma’s T20I series as the permanent T20I captain, he handed Venkatesh Iyer his debut cap as the team’s designated all-rounder. After winning the toss at Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur and opting to bowl, Rohit also revealed that Shreyas Iyer is making a comeback along with Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel. Shreyas, Deepak and Siraj were in India's reserves for T20 World Cup 2021.
In Jasprit Bumrah’s absence, Bhuvneshwar Kumar is going to lead the pace attack after an impressive run in the recently-concluded T20 World Cup 2021. It will be interesting to see where Venkatesh bats in the absence of Ishan Kishan from the playing XI.
Playing for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021’s second phase, the sensational Venkatesh opened the innings alongside Shubman Gill. He scored 370 runs from 10 matches including four half-centuries. He was impressive in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy too for Madhya Pradesh with 155 runs from five innings including a half-century.
“Everyone who plays cricket aspires to play for the country, so I feel good that I've been presented with this opportunity. Feels good to play under Rahul (Dravid) sir, I'm really excited and looking forward to it. As a cricketer you got to be flexible, and I'll look to capitalise on the role I've been given. I'm ready to bat at any position, or bowl whenever I've been asked to. It's wonderful to play in front of the (Indian) crowd, it's great to have them back,” Venkatesh told the broadcasters before the match.
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Siraj
New Zealand Playing XI: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee (c), Todd Astle, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
