Ind vs NZ series: Reward for domestic show

Mumbai: Shreyas Iyer and Hyderabad pacer Mohammed Siraj were on Monday named in the 16-member squad for the three-match T20 series against New Zealand. Ashish Nehra, who is set to retire after the first T20 in New Delhi, is also in the squad. Kedar Jadhav has made way for Shreyas who has performed impressively for India ‘A’ as well in domestic matches. 

Meanwhile, selectors recalled experienced opener Murali Vijay to Test squad for the first two matches of a three-Test series against Sri Lanka which starts next month. Vijay will replace his state-mate Abhinav Mukund. Virat Kohli was expected to be rested for the entire Lanka Test series, but chief selector M.S.K. Prasad said the rotation policy would apply to the captain at some point of time. 

“As far as the Test series is concerned, he is going to play. We are also monitoring his workload. He has been playing continuously right from IPL till today, we need to give him a break which we will consider after the Test series,” he added,” Prasad said. The Test squad has three specialist spinners in R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav.

The 22-year-old Shreyas has been a consistent performer for Mumbai and has also done well for his IPL franchise, Delhi Daredevils. “Shreyas has been prolific in all forms of the game, be it a four-day or one-day or T20. If we pick a player, we will give him an extended run and we will continue with him for some point and nurture him and see that he goes on to become successful. With Siraj, he is doing well and has been duly rewarded,” Prasad added. The selector made it clear that Nehra has been picked only for the first T20 after which will be retire. 

“There are a lot of apprehensions about Nehra. I will make it very clear and candid — we have clearly communicated to the player and the team management, that we are only looking at him till the New Zealand series,” he said. On whether MS Dhoni would remain in future plans, Prasad said. “He is still the best wicketkeeper-batsman, not only India has but still one of the best in the world.”

T20 squad
Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra and Mohammed Siraj.

Test squad
Virat Kohli (captain), KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma.

Board President’s XI
Naman Ojha (captain, wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson, Jiwanjot Singh, B. Sandeep, Tanmay Agarwal, Abhishek Gupta, Rohan Prem, Akash Bhandari, Jalaj Saxena, C. V. Milind, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier and Ravi Kiran.