India vs New Zealand 2021: Official T20I Squad for Indian Team

Rohit Sharma announced as the new captain as we look at the official T20I series squad for India vs New Zealand 2021.

It’s not even a day since Team India’s exit from the most important T20 World Cup 2021, and BCCI has announced the squad for the upcoming T20I series vs New Zealand. While we are yet to recover completely from the below-par performance of Team India, we are excited for the new phase of India. 

As we all know Virat Kohli had announced before the World Cup that the 2021 T20 World Cup would be his last appearance as a captain of Team India. It was also the last assignment of Ravi Shastri as the Head coach of Team India. While both exited with honor, we are excited to see Team India begin their journey under new leadership. 

While former U19 Team India coach, Rahul Dravid was announced as the Head Coach of the senior team, on expected lines, Rohit Sharma was announced as the Captain of Team India. He would take the reign from Virat Kohli, who captained Team India for exactly 50 T20I matches. Meanwhile, KL Rahul was announced as his deputy for the New Zealand series. 

So, with Team India’s next assignment being the 2021 T20I series vs New Zealand (NZ), what is the official squad for Team India? What are the team changes, new additions, and omissions from the squad? Let’s find out in this article. 

Key Additions

Team India announced a 16-member squad for the T20I series. This includes 7 batsmen including 2 wicket-keepers, 2 all-rounders, and 7 bowlers. The key new additions from the squad that played the World Cup include Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Siraj, and Yuzvendra Chahal. 

Ruturaj Gaikwad has been rewarded was his consistent performance in IPL 2020, IPL 2021, and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021. Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, and Axar Patel were reserved for the T20 World Cup, but are now a part of the T20I series. Venkatesh Iyer, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, and Avesh Khan are rewarded basis stunning performance in IPL 2021. Whereas Yuzvendra Chahal makes a surprise entry after being left out from the T20 world cup squad. 

Key Omissions

As expected, former captain Virat Kohli has been rested from the T20I squad to manage his workload. He shall be expected to be back for the Test Series. Along with Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, and Mohammed Shami have been rested from the squad to manage the workload. 

Barring these changes, the spin duo of Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy have been dropped from the squad. The reason for this is still unknown as Varun did decently in the three matches he played. Whereas Rahul Chahar, who played only 1 match will now be seen in the whites playing for India A vs South Africa. 

So, here’s the official squad for Team India breaking it category-wise.

India vs New Zealand (NZ) 2021 – Official T20I Series Squad for Team India 

Batsmen: Ishan Kishan (WK), KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Rohit Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer & Suryakumar Yadav

All-rounders: Axar Patel & Venkatesh Iyer

Bowlers: Avesh Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Ravichandran Ashwin & Yuzvendra Chahal

Coach: Rahul Dravid // Captain: Rohit Sharma // Vice-captain: KL Rahul

Thanks for reading! Which player inclusion or exclusion surprises you the most from India vs New Zealand (NZ) 2021 T20I series? Please email your comments to business@cricalytics.com

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Adesh Kothari

Adesh Kothari is the founder of AK4Tsay1 Cricalytics with over 20 years of experience following Cricket.

Cricket to him is like what Football is to Lionel Messi, Singing is to Lata Mangeshkar, Dancing is to Michael Jackson, and Acting is to Clint Eastwood.

Besides his effervescent love for Cricket, Adesh is an MBA by qualification.