India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah's name was missing from the Men in Blue's squad for the upcoming series against New Zealand and Bangladesh. Team India is slated to play T20Is and ODIs against Kiwis before locking horns with Bangladesh for the One-Dayers and Tests.
Former Indian cricketer and chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma gave a massive update on the injured star India pacer Bumrah, who will be absent from both series. He assured that the speedster will feature against Australia when they visit the subcontinent for a four-match Test series in February next year.
Bumrah had injured his back ahead of the Asia Cup last month and had hence missed the crucial tournament in the UAE. He however returned for the home series that followed against Australia, but was sidelined once again with the same injury and was eventually ruled out of the T20 World Cup.
With India set to play New Zealand and Bangladesh after the World Cup in Australia, Bumrah was expected to recover in time and join the squad, but he wasn't picked for either of the four series.
Speaking to the press after the announcement of India's squad, Chetan revealed that the team management would want to be rather patient and not rush into his return as they had done the previous time with T20 World Cup around the corner.
“He will be back soon. Hoping we will play for India again soon. We hurried Jasprit Bumrah before the T20 World Cup and you saw what happened. So we want to be patient now. NCA team is looking after him well. Right now, we are a little cautious about including Bumrah. When we rest a player, there is a reason behind it,” he said.
The T20 series will begin on November 18 in Wellington, four days after the conclusion of the ongoing World Cup in Australia.
Veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan will captain the Indian team in the ODI series in New Zealand, starting November 25.
Rishabh Pant will be vice captain of the team in New Zealand in both series.
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, opener KL Rahul, keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik and veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin have all been rested for the New Zealand tour as part of "workload management of players".
Rohit will be back to lead the side in ODI and Test series in Bangladesh. Star batter Kohli, Ashwin will also return to the squad for the Bangladesh tour where India will play three ODIs and two Tests, beginning December 4.
This is the first time that the BCCI has announced four squads at the same time.
Ravindra Jadeja, who was ruled out of the ongoing T20 World Cup after suffering a knee injury during the Asia Cup, will also make a comeback against Bangladesh.
Selection Committee Chairman Chetan Sharma said different teams have been announced to manage players' workload.
"Nobody asked for rest. All the decisions are part of workload management of players. We have reports from the medical team on who to give rest when and how to manage them," Chetan said during a virtual media interaction.
Asked about Karthik's future after his below-par show in the first three matches of the T20 World Cup and now that he has been rested for the New Zealand tour, Chetan insisted that it's not all over for the Tamil Nadu batter.
"The World Cup is going to finish in a few days and so we need to decide who to rest or not. He (Karthik) has been performing and he is available to us. But this time we just thought of trying a different set of players after the World Cup," the chief selector said.
Karthik suffered a back injury during India's last match against South Africa and is a doubtful starter against Bangladesh on Wednesday.
But Chetan did not share any update on Karthik's injury.
"The medical team is looking after him, it's an internal matter so it's not wise to disclose anything here. He is part and parcel of the World Cup and he is doing well."
The second match of the New Zealand T20 series will be played on November 20 in Mount Maunganui, while the series will conclude on November 22 in Napier.
The ODI series will begin on November 25 in Auckland), followed by matches on November 27 (Hamilton) and November 30 (Christchurch).
India will start the Bangladesh tour with three ODIs on December 4, 7 and 10 in Dhaka, followed by two Test matches in Chattogram (December 14-18) and Dhaka (December 22-26).
India's squad for NZ T20Is: Hardik Pandya (C), Rishabh Pant (vc & wk), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson (wk), W Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik.
India's squad for NZ ODIs: Shikhar Dhawan (C), Rishabh Pant (vc & wk), Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson (wk), W Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Shahbaz Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen, Umran Malik.
India's squad for Bangladesh ODIs: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, W Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Yash Dayal
India's squad for Bangladesh Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav.
