IND vs NZ: 3 Undeserving Players Who Made It In India T20 Squad for New Zealand

IND vs NZ: 3 Undeserving Players Who Made It In India T20 Squad for New Zealand.  The New Selection committee led by Chetan Sharma has picked India’s T20I squad for the upcoming series against New Zealand (IND vs NZ). All-rounder Hardik Pandya has been appointed as the captain of the T20I side with senior players including Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul being rested for the series.

The new selection committee was announced a few days ago with Chetan Sharma being retained by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) of the BCCI interviewing more than a dozen of candidates last week. Notably, Jasprit Bumrah is still missing from all the squads announced by the BCCI for the New Zealand series.

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India is set to play New Zealand in a three-match ODI and three-match T20 series. The ODI series will commence from 18^th January onwards in Hyderabad and will then move to Raipur and Indore on January 21 and 24 respectively.

The T20I series will start on the 27 of January in Ranchi. It will then move to Lucknow and Ahmedabad on January 29 and February 1 respectively for the remaining matches.

IND vs NZ: 3 Undeserving Players Who Made It In India T20 Squad for New Zealand

Ruturaj Gaikwad

Ruturaj Gaikwad owns a poor record as an opener in T20Is so far. The right-handed batsman has played 9 T20I games so far. In 8 innings, he has scored just 135 runs at an average of 16.88. He has only hit 1 fifty in the shortest format.

He also owns a poor strike rate of 123.85 while batting in T20Is. He has not played any T20I games recently. He last played a T20I match during the series against Ireland in June 2022.  He has an experience in just 10 international matches for India. Hence, some other experienced player could have been picked on his behalf. He is an underserving player picked for IND vs NZ T20I series.

Jitesh Sharma

Maharashtra’s wicket-keeper batsman Jitesh Sharma has also been formally selected in India’s T20I team for the first time in IND vs NZ T20Is. Earlier, he was added to the team after Sanju Samson was injured during the T20I series against Sri Lanka.

Punjab Kings’ talented wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma was one of the most impressive uncapped cricketers in the IPL 2022. Playing his first IPL, the 28-year-old scored 234 runs in 12 matches at a brilliant strike rate of 163.64.

He had one of the best numbers in the middle overs among all batters in the IPL 2022. The right-hander did not feature in the first few matches for Punjab Kings but once he was given an opportunity, he grabbed it with both hands and even forced PBKS to keep an impact player like Shahrukh Khan out of the XI. However, he is still uncapped at the international level and some other experienced keeper like Dinesh Karthik could have been picked on his behalf.

Mukesh Kumar

Bengal pacer uncapped Mukesh Kumar was signed by Delhi Capitals for INR 5.5 crore in IPL 2023 auction though he entered the auction at a base price of INR 20 lakh. Mukesh Kumar has made rapid strides in domestic cricket with his good lengths and ability to move the ball off the pitch.

The 29-year-old pacer was included in the ODI Series squad against South Africa but did not feature in the contest. The pacer made his first-class debut way back in 2015 as this is his maiden IPL contract. Mukesh Kumar so far has played 23 T20s and picked 25 wickets with an economy rate of 7.20. He has been a part of the Indian A side for quite some time.

Mukesh Kumar was benched after being picked in IND vs SL T20Is. He retained his place in IND vs NZ T20Is but he is still uncapped at the international level and some other experienced pacers like Jaydev Unadkat, or Umesh Yadav and could have been picked on his behalf.

Virat Kohli | Rohit Sharma | Rishabh Pant | KL Rahul | Suryakumar Yadav | Sanju Samson | Shreyas Iyer | Yuzvendra Chahal | Jasprit Bumrah