While he has been part of the leadership group before, Jasprit Bumrah was officially named the vice-captain for the three-match Test series against New Zealand starting in Bengaluru on Thursday. The move has been made to signify that Bumrah will step in as captain in case Rohit Sharma misses any Test in the near future.
The senior selection committee named Bumrah as deputy and The Indian Express understands that the selection committee will stick with him as stand-in captain in Test matches in case Sharma opts out for any game in future. Bumrah has already led India in one Test match, against England in Birmingham back in July 2022.
The Indian team is scheduled to travel to Australia for a long five Test match series in November and in case Rohit opts out for any of the games due to personal reasons, Bumrah will take over. The selection committee didn’t name a vice-captain during two match Test series against Bangladesh at home and the reason to name the pacer is to get him used to the role in case the situation arises.
There were no other major surprises as India named a 15-member playing group.
Tearaway pacers Harshit Rana and Mayank Yadav, and emerging all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy were named as travelling reserves. Star pacer Mohammed Shami, however, still doesn’t find a place in the squad.
From the recent Bangladesh series, the only change was the omission of left-arm pacer Yash Dayal from what was a 16-member squad. The second and third match of the series will be played in Pune and Mumbai respectively.
India trounced Bangladesh 2-0 in their most recent Test series, and are unbeaten at home in the longest format since 2012. New Zealand, meanwhile, lost 0-2 in Galle against Sri Lanka.
India’s squad for the three Tests against New Zealand: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep
Travelling Reserves: Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mayank Yadav and Prasidh Krishna
