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Premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah was on Friday named vice-captain of India for the upcoming three-match home Test series against New Zealand, strongly indicating his possible elevation to the leadership role when the team travels to Australia from next month.
The three-match series against the Kiwis will start on November 16 in Bengaluru, followed by the second Test in Pune from October 24 and third game in Mumbai from November 1.
As reported by PTI on October 10, regular captain Rohit Sharma could skip one of the first two Test matches in Australia owing to personal reasons.
The five-match Test series in Australia starts on November 22 in Perth and the second match will be held at Adelaide from December 6, and there is a possibility that Rohit could give either the first or the second game a miss.
Adding strength to that thought is the fact that India did not name a vice-captain for the recent home series against Bangladesh, which they won 2-0.
Bumrah has prior experience of leading the side as he wore the captain's armband during the rescheduled fifth Test match against England in July 2022 at Edgbaston. He also led India in the away T20I series against Ireland in 2023.
Recently, Bumrah also reclaimed his No. 1 spot in the ICC bowlers' ranking after a stellar effort against Bangladesh.
The 30-year-old has been in riveting form in red-ball cricket, grabbing 42 wickets from eight Tests after his comeback from an injury in August 2023. He has an excellent average of 14.69 in this period.
Overall, Bumrah has played 38 Tests, taking 170 wickets, averaging 20.18 with 10 five-wicket hauls.
Yash Dayal, who was part of the squad for the Bangladesh series, was not selected after the pacer sustained a shoulder injury during Uttar Pradesh's Ranji Trophy match against Bengal in Lucknow on Friday.
It is not yet clear how long Dayal will take to recover from the injury, casting a shadow over his chances of touring Australia.
Other than that, all the players who did duty against Bangladesh recently were retained in the 15-member squad which will be led by Rohit.
Pacer Mohammed Shami, who is recuperating after an ankle surgery, was not considered, as the wait for his return to international cricket continues.
All-rounder Harshit Rana, middle-order batsman Nitish Kumar Reddy, pacers Mayank Yadav and Prasidh Krishna were named as travelling reserves in the squad, also underlining the prioritised place for these young players in the long-term Indian scheme of things.
Both Nitish and Mayank have been impressive in their maiden outing for India during the ongoing three-match T20I series against Bangladesh.
India's squad for the New Zealand Test series: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep.