Umran Malik Makes Comeback For India's Tour Of New Zealand; Hardik Pandya To Lead In T20Is

 All-rounder Hardik Pandya was on Monday named India's captain for the upcoming three-match T20I series in New Zealand as BCCI announced three different leaders for four upcoming assignments across formats. The T20 series will begin on November 18 in Wellington, four days after the conclusion of the ongoing World Cup in Australia. Veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan will captain the Indian team in the ODI series in New Zealand, starting November 25. Rishabh Pant will be vice captain of the team in New Zealand in both series. Fast bowler Umran Malik has also made a comeback to the squad.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, opener KL Rahul, keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik and veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin have all been rested for the New Zealand tour as part of "workload management of players".

Rohit will be back to lead the side in ODI and Test series in Bangladesh. Star batter Kohli, Ashwin will also return to the squad for the Bangladesh tour where India will play three ODIs and two Tests, beginning December 4.

This is the first time that the BCCI has announced four squads at the same time.

Ravindra Jadeja, who was ruled out of the ongoing T20 World Cup after suffering a knee injury during the Asia Cup, will also make a comeback against Bangladesh.

Selection Committee Chairman Chetan Sharma said different teams have been announced to manage players' workload.

"Nobody asked for rest. All the decisions are part of workload management of players. We have reports from the medical team on who to give rest when and how to manage them," Chetan said during a virtual media interaction.

Asked about Karthik's future after his below-par show in the first three matches of the T20 World Cup and now that he has been rested for the New Zealand tour, Chetan insisted that it's not all over for the Tamil Nadu batter.

"The World Cup is going to finish in a few days and so we need to decide who to rest or not. He (Karthik) has been performing and he is available to us. But this time we just thought of trying a different set of players after the World Cup," the chief selector said.

Karthik suffered a back injury during India's last match against South Africa and is a doubtful starter against Bangladesh on Wednesday.

But Chetan did not share any update on Karthik's injury.

"The medical team is looking after him, it's an internal matter so it's not wise to disclose anything here. He is part and parcel of the World Cup and he is doing well." The second match of the New Zealand T20 series will be played on November 20 in Mount Maunganui, while the series will conclude on November 22 in Napier.

The ODI series will begin on November 25 in Auckland), followed by matches on November 27 (Hamilton) and November 30 (Christchurch).

India will start the Bangladesh tour with three ODIs on December 4, 7 and 10 in Dhaka, followed by two Test matches in Chattogram (December 14-18) and Dhaka (December 22-26).

But pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who missed the T20 World Cup due to a stress fracture on his back, has not been selected for the two tours as he is yet to fully recover from his injury and the selectors are in no mood to rush his return.

"We need to manage players. We need to look at the workload management of players and we take it very seriously. The NCA (National Cricket Academy) medical team is looking after him (Bumrah) very well," Sharma said when asked about the pacer.

"He will definitely be part of the side against Australia but we didn't like to hurry his return against Bangladesh. He will be back soon." Australia will tour India for four Tests and three ODIs in February-March next year.

Squad for NZ T20Is: 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.

Squad for NZ ODIs: Shikhar Dhawan (C), Rishabh Pant (vc & wk), Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson (wk), W Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Shahbaz Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen, Umran Malik.

Squad for Bangladesh ODIs: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, W Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Yash Dayal 

Squad for Bangladesh Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav. 

Topics mentioned in this article

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