India Predicted Squad for New Zealand T20, Test Series 2021: Ruturaj, Venkatesh, Harshal in focus

1. India T20I Squad

KL Rahul (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Krunal Pandya, Chetan Sakariya, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammad Siraj, Rahul Chahar, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Varun Chakravarthy.

2. India Test squad

Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Siraj.

3. Series schedule

The T20Is will be played on November 17 in Jaipur, November 19 in Ranchi and November 21 in Kolkata. The two Tests will be played in Kanpur (November 25-29) and Mumbai (December 3-7).

4. What BCCI, Players are thinking

The BCCI has made it amply clear that they will be eager to give more juniors an audition as the seniors can take a much-needed rest after leading a bubble life since their trip to England for WTC Final and the series against England.

“The seniors would need a breather and it is no secret that (KL) Rahul is an integral part of the team’s T20 structure. He is almost certain to lead.”

Coming back to resting seniors for the T20I series, Jasprit Bumrah did throw light on the fatigue factor after the loss against New Zealand during the T20 World Cup.

“Sometimes you need a break. You miss your family sometimes. You’ve been on the road for six months. So all of that sometimes play on the back of your mind.

“But when you’re on the field, you don’t think of all those things. You don’t control a lot of things, how the scheduling goes on or what tournament is played when.

“So obviously staying in a bubble and staying away from your family for such a long period of time does play a role on the player’s mind as well. “But they also tried their best to make us feel comfortable.

But this is the time which we’re living in right now. It’s a difficult time.

“There’s a pandemic going on. So we try to adapt. But sometimes bubble fatigue, mental fatigue also creeps in, that you’re doing the same thing again and again and again. So it is the way it is, and you can’t control a lot of it here,” he said.