India will not have Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami when they take on New Zealand for the first Test in Kanpur from 25 November. Ajinkya Rahane will lead India in the series opener, while Cheteshwar Pujara has been named his deputy.
Kohli, however, will return for the second and the final Test, to lead the side.
In Pant’s absence, Wriddhiman Saha will don the big gloves, while K.S. Bharat has been selected as back-up. Prasidh Krishna, Shreyas Iyer and Jayant Yadav have also made the cut.
The other notable absentees are Shardul Thakur and Hanuma Vihari.
Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh form India’s four-man pace attack, while Jayant joins Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin and Axar Patel in the spin unit.
India squad for New Zealand Tests: Ajinkya Rahane (c), K.L. Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara (vc), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj. Virat Kohli to join the squad and lead for the second Test.