INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Selectors look to fill Pant void with an explosive batter in Tests; Axar, Rahul opt out of NZ seriesNEW DELHI: Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar
Yadav have got maiden Test call-ups for the first two Tests at home against Australia next month
On Friday night, the selectors announced the teams for the ODI and T20I series against New Zealand which precedes the Test series
Prithvi Shaw has been drafted into the T20I squad
Interestingly, Jasprit Bumrah has not been named in the Test team
It is believed he is still not ready to endure the rigours of Test cricket yet.TOI understands that the selectors are looking at attacking
options in the middle order for Test matches in the absence of Rishabh Pant
It is learnt that the selectors and team management are eager to play Ishan in the middle order against Australia as that could be a
like-for-like replacement for Pant
"Playing a wicketkeeper in place of Pant is not the major problem
The team needs someone who can take the game away at No
Suryakumar is also seen as such an option
India are expected to play on turners
So, the team will be looking at someone who can score quickly," a BCCI source told TOI.It is also learnt that Sarfaraz Khan lost out on a
The team was comfortable playing with five specialist bowlers
"Bharat is not seen as someone who can bat in the top six
If Bharat is played then the team will be forced to sacrifice a bowler
If Ishan is played, then he can bat in the top 6
But the concern is that Ishan has not been keeping wickets in First-Class matches
in September due to a knee injury, has been picked for the Test matches subject to his fitness
"Jadeja has been asked to play at least one domestic game
If he is indeed fit then it will solve the problem of having a left-hander in the middle order and India can play five bowlers," the source
said.Meanwhile, KL Rahul and Axar Patel opted out of the NZ series due to personal commitments.Squad for the first two Tests vs Australia:
Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan
Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd
Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.ODI squad for New Zealand series: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan
(wk), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat (wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul
Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd
Siraj, Umran Malik.T20I squad for New Zealand series: Hardik Pandya (captain), Suryakumar Yadav (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj
Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh,
Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Prithvi Shaw, Mukesh Kumar.
