New Delhi: Middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer and off-spinner Jayant Yadav found a place in the India Test squad while Hanuma Vihari has been dropped for the two-match home assignment against New Zealand.Middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer and off-spinner Jayant Yadav found a place in the India Test squad while Hanuma Vihari has been dropped for the two-match home assignment against New Zealand. Vihari will, instead, travel with the India āAā squad for the tour of South Africa, where he will get an opportunity to impress the selectors. Prasidh Krishna will be the fourth pacer, with wicketkeeper-batter KS Bharat deputising for Wriddhiman Saha. As was expected, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane will lead India in the first Test.
Hanuma Vihari’s last innings in India’s Test colors came in Sydney in January when his heroic 161-ball knock helped save the Test on the final day. Despite being in the squad, he didn’t get a chance in England for the Pataudi Trophy.
Similarly, Prithvi Shaw was flown to England as an emergency backup in the Test series after seeing his impressive performances in domestic cricket. However, he too has been dropped despite not even getting a single chance on that tour.
Popular cricket commentator and expert Harsha Bhogle was really astonished that Vihari did not get into the squad. Am I missing something here? I cannot see a reason why #HanumaVihari is not in the test squad for #IndvsNZ. Injury? Canāt be on cricketing groundsā¦.there hasnāt been any first-class cricket. Surely it canāt be right. His last innings for India was that heroic effort at Sydney, tweeted Harsha Bhogle.
SQUAD:Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna.