‘Funny selectors’ – Fans left in splits as selectors make several changes in India’s squad for New Zealand series

The Indian squad for the three-match ODI and T20I series against New Zealand was announced on January 13, Friday and there were too many surprises for the fans to take away. To add more, veterans Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were excluded from the T20I squad, while the youngster Prithvi Shaw was recalled. 

Shubman Gill, the Indian opener, retained his spot in both T20Is and ODIs, making him the only all-format player for team India at present. It remains to be seen if he could make the most of the opportunities and cement his place across the three formats in the coming days for the Indian team. 

Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Jitesh Sharma will continue their stint in the T20Is, while veteran KL Rahul was left out of the squad due to personal commitments. On the other hand, Sanju Samson, the talented batter, is in his recovery phase after sustaining a scary knee injury. 

Suspense remains over Ravindra Jadeja’s fitness as he fails to make it to IND vs NZ series

India’s best allrounder Ravindra Jadeja was not selected for the white-ball series against the Kiwis and the suspense over his selection still remains, as the selectors came up with no clarification. Fans, on the other hand, are suspecting a drift between the southpaw and the selection committee, although nothing is official yet. 

KS Bharat, the wicketkeeper who was a part of the Test setup, was included in the ODI series vs the Black Caps and one has to agree that it might be the start of something new for the batter, given that he has been warming the bench for a long time now. 

India’s squad for ODIs vs New Zealand: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat (wk), Hardik Pandya (vc), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik

Squad for IND vs NZ T20I series: Hardik Pandya (C), Suryakumar Yadav (vc), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Prithvi Shaw, Mukesh Kumar

Here’s how the fans have reacted to IND vs NZ series squad announcement: 

What a great decision to pick #PrithviShaw in t20s for performing great in first class.

— Arunabh Bhardwaj (@ArunabhBhardwa4) January 14, 2023

FINALLY Selected #PrithviShaw 💗🇮🇳🏏

#IndianCricketTeam #T20Cricket #NZtour pic.twitter.com/acHhBFVxtY

— 🇸 🇭 🇺 🇧 🇭 シ︎ (@_ShubhSayss_) January 14, 2023

Welcome back, Prithvi Shaw into International cricket after 18 months.#IndianCricketTeam #PrithviShaw

— anil parmar (@anilloveanna) January 14, 2023

I really hope Prithvi Shaw and more importantly Sarfraz Khan don’t end up being neglected like how Amol Muzumdar, Mithun Manhas were all neglected!

— Vinay (@vinaykashy) January 14, 2023

Indian Selection Committee never failed to give reasons for troll them…#SarfarazAhmed #PrithviShaw #INDvsNZ

— Smruti Ranjan(बालक) (@Smruti_45) January 14, 2023

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli dropped from T20I squad against New Zealand. Hardik Pandya to stay captain. Seems BCCI have actually MOVED ON.

— FAIZ FAZEL (@theFaizFazel) January 14, 2023

#PrithviShaw has been called back… deservingly so #INDvsAUS

— Deepali Pandey (@deepalipandey) January 14, 2023

For T20 against NZ, both @imVkohli & @ImRo45 have been dropped or they asked for rest ???

— Nilesh Mishra (नीलेश मिश्र) (रेडियो वाले नहीं) (@NILESH04) January 14, 2023

Nobody noticed harshal patel The slower ball and cutter king dropped from t2ois😂. #IndiaVsNewZealand#ViratKohli𓃵 #IndiavsSrilanka

— Wrong Brothers😏 (@YoungLa95073370) January 13, 2023