Rohit Sharma to lead the team, Jasprit Bumrah to be his deputy

The Men's Selection Committee  under the leadership of its Chairman Ajit Agarkar has picked India's 15-member squad for the upcoming three-match IDFC FIRST Bank Test series against New Zealand, that will be counted as part of the 9-team ICC World Test Championship ranking. The same will be led by veteran opening batter Rohit Sharma, while ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah will be his deputy.

Notably the team sans Mohammed Shami who has not featured for India since the Men's World Cup final against Australia in November last year due to ankle injury and was subsequently operated successfully. The rest of the Indian squad is on the expected lines following their white wash in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh last month and were placed atop in the ICC World Test Championship points table last month.

While Bengaluru will host the first Test, Pune and Mumbai will be the host for the next two.

 Indian Test squad against New Zealand: Rohit Sharma (Capt), Jasprit Bumrah (Vice-Capt), Yashasvi  Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep

Travelling Reserves: Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mayank Yadav and Prasidh Krishna

Photo Indian squad: Rohit Sharma will lead the 15 member Indian squad in the upcoming three-match IDFC FIRST Bank Test series against New Zealand, with an eye on qualifying for the ICC World Test Championship final. (Photo courtesy BCCI)