New Zealand name Test and T20I sqauds for India tour

Trent Boult and Colin de Grandhomme are the major omissions as New Zealand named their squads for the T20I and Test series in India. Even as Boult will only miss the Test series, the 35-year-old Grandhomme won’t be a part of both the red-ball and white-ball series.

The duo made themselves unavailable because of the prospect of spending more time amidst the hassles of the bio-secure bubbles in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Kiwis picked five spinners- Ish Sodhi, Mitchell Santner, William Somerville, Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel- for the tour. The Test series will also mark the first instance of New Zealand playing in the format without BJ Watling, who retired back in June.

Ross Taylor, who didn’t play the T20 World Cup, wasn’t included in the T20I squad, but he would be playing the Tests on Indian soil.

New Zealand T20I squad

Kane Williamson (c), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Martin Guptill, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Adam Milne

New Zealand Test squad

Kane Williamson (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Devon Conway, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Will Somerville, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Will Young, Neil Wagner

The Kiwis’ tour gets underway with the three-match T20I series, starting Wednesday, November 17. Jaipur, Ranchi and Kolkata will host the games. Kanpur and Mumbai are the hosts for the two-match Test series, which is scheduled to begin on November 25.