Ravichandran Ashwin and Yashasvi Jaiswal will be part of the Indian cricket team that will take on New Zealand in a three-match Test series scheduled to start on October 16.
The BCCI selection committee named a 15-member squad on Friday with Dhruv Jurel set to continue as the second wicketkeeper in the team.
The first India vs New Zealand Test will be played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru from October 16 to 20 while the second and third Tests will be played in Pune and Mumbai from October 24 and November 1, respectively.
Ashwin, who plays for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, had an excellent series against Bangladesh with both bat and ball. He accumulated 114 runs from two matches, including a gritty century in the first Test in Chennai, at an average of 57.00.
With the ball, the all-rounder picked up 11 wickets - the joint-highest in the series along with Jasprit Bumrah - at an impressive average of 19.27 and strike rate of 34.90. Ashwin’s exploits with the ball also saw him move to the top of the wicket charts in the World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle with 53 wickets from 10 matches.
Meanwhile, Yashasvi Jaiswal continued his form in the longer format of the game amassing 189 runs from two matches against Bangladesh at an average of 47.25.
The Indian opener, who scored three fifties in four innings, was instrumental in powering India to a win in the second Test after losing more than two days due to rain. Jaiswal’s quickfire half-centuries in both innings helped India to complete a clean sweep over their neighbours.
The 22-year-old Jaiswal is currently second in the list of batters in the WTC 2023-25 cycle with a tally of 1217 runs from 11 matches at an average of 64.05. He is also the Indian batter with the most runs in a single edition of the WTC after going past Ajinkya Rahane in the second Test.
Indian cricket team for New Zealand Test series 2024 - full squad
Indian cricket team: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav,, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep.
