Indian cricket Board announce squad for T20I series against New Zealand, Hardik Pandya to lead for second time

In a major piece of the announcement, the Indian Cricket Board has announced the squad of the Indian team for the T20I series in New Zealand. Notably, the men in blue will play this series against the Kiwis following the conclusion of the ongoing 20-20 World Cup 2022.

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Notably, there are some major changes in the squad from the current squad that is playing in the marquee tournament in Australia. The entire bunch of senior players including the likes of skipper Rohit Sharma and senior batter Virat Kohli has been rested from this assignment.

Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya is all set to lead the team once again after his successful assignment a few months back in June against Ireland. In that series, Pandya’s men registered a clean-sweep victory by a margin of 2-0 against the Irish team. Apart from that, young wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will be there to fulfill the responsibilities of Vice-Captain.

Young pace bowling sensation Umran Malik will also be part of schemes in the Indian squad for his white-ball assignment against New Zealand. Malik impressed and stunned everyone with his stellar performances in the 2022 edition of the Indian T20 League.

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He also played under Hardik’s captaincy on India’s tour against Ireland for two T20Is played in the month of June.

In another line of changes, star wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson is also set to feature in the roster for the three-match series in the shortest format of the game. The Indian cricket fans were not happy when selectors happened to ignore him from the squad of India for the 20-20 World Cup 2022.

Here’s India’s squad for the T20I series against New Zealand:

Hardik Pandya (C), Rishabh Pant (VC & wk), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson (wk), W Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik.