India Test Squad vs New Zealand: 3 Deserving Players Who Missed Out On A Spot

The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced India’s squad for the two-match Test series against New Zealand on Friday. Senior players such as Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, M Shami, and Rishabh Pant have all been rested for the series. India’s regular skipper, Virat Kohli will join the team ahead of the second Test. In his absence, Ajinkya Rahane will lead the side, while Cheteshwar Pujara will be his deputy.

Delhi Capitals batsman, Shreyas Iyer makes a comeback in the squad, while the likes of Jayant Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, and KS Bharat also make the cut. KS Bharat has been selected as the backup wicketkeeper in the squad.

Among all the names, there have been some notable exclusions as well. A few of the players, who have been part of the previous tours have been left out, leaving the fans agitated. Here in this article, we have listed down three players who deserved to be in the squad but missed out for some reason.

SHORTS

View More

Your daily dose of cricket!

Loading...

India Test Squad vs New Zealand: 3 Deserving Players Who Missed Out On A Spot

1. Hanuma Vihari

Among all the notable exclusions, Hanuma Vihari’s absence in the squad has raised a lot of eyebrows. Interestingly, Hanuma Vihari was in line to take the middle-order spot in the absence of Virat Kohli.

However, he has been left out of the squad, instead. Hanuma Vihari last played a Test match against Australia in Sydney. He battled hard and played as many as 161 deliveries to save the Test for his country. Vihari couldn’t play the final Test of the series due to injury.

However, he wasn’t given any opportunity in the Test series against England and now has been excluded from the squad. The BCCI in its release hasn’t explained any reason behind the same. For someone, who hasn’t done anything wrong to be excluded from the squad, Hanuma Vihari has certainly been meted with bad treatment.

2. Suryakumar Yadav

After injuries to Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar, and Avesh Khan, Suryakumar Yadav was asked to join the Indian squad in England during India’s tour of England 2021. The management showed faith in his ability and backed him to do well in Test Cricket. Though, he didn’t get an opportunity to bat in the series.

As it turns out, the Mumbai batsman has now been excluded from the squad for the two-match Test series against New Zealand. Shreyas Iyer has been selected ahead of him. Suryakumar Yadav would be wondering what has he done wrong to be excluded from the squad.

3. Kuldeep Yadav

However, India continues the overlook him across all formats. Kuldeep Yadav played just one Test in the home series against England but wasn’t picked in the Test squad for the WTC final and tour of England for a five-match Test series. These are not great signs for Kuldeep Yadav and things could get really tough for him from here to make a comeback in the Indian Team.