India vs New Zealand T20I: Rohit Sharma set to be announced captain; Hardik Pandya likely to be dropped

India vs New Zealand T20I: Rohit Sharma set to be announced captain, whereas Hardik can be dropped from the series.

Team India has been knocked out of the T20 World Cup, but they don’t have enough time to rest. The Indian team is set to face New Zealand in a three-game T20I series starting from 17 November 2021 in Jaipur.

According to Indian Express, Team India is set to rest some of their icon players in the series. Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, and Jasprit Bumrah are likely to be rested for the series. Rohit Sharma is likely to be announced the next T20I captain, whereas BCCI is also planning to make Rohit the ODI captain as well.

India vs New Zealand T20I series: Hardik Pandya set to get dropped

The selection committee lead by Mr. Chetan Sharma will announce the squad on 8th or 9th November 2021. Hardik Pandya is set to be dropped from the series due to his consistent form and fitness issues. BCCI wants to nurture Venkatesh Iyer in the all-rounder role, after his brilliant performances for KKR in the IPL 2021.

At the top-order, IPL 2021 orange cap winner Ruturaj Gaikwad is set to be selected. Apart from Rohit and Ruturaj, Ishan Kishan will be the third opener of the side. In the middle-order, Shreyas Iyer will regain his spot after being in the reserves of the T20 World Cup squad. Suryakumar Yadav will be in the team too.

Third consecutive 50 for Ruturaj Gaikwad. Guy does some black magic whenever he wears yellow. Unreal consistency. Scored 81(47) against Odisha. Hope he gets groomed well under Rahul Dravid’s tenure. Well and truly the future of both CSK and ICT. pic.twitter.com/KTcmHF6RmP

— Heisenberg ☢ (@internetumpire) November 6, 2021

In the spin-bowling department, Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy will retain their places, whereas Yuzi Chahal is ready for a comeback. The pace department will look quite different in the absence of Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah. Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur will be there, whereas Avesh Khan, Mohammad Siraj, and Prasidh Krishna are also set to join them.

BCCI will announce the rest of the support staff of Rahul Dravid very soon, as they have to enter the bio-bubble for the series on 10th November 2021.