Full Schedule And Squads Announced For India's Tour Of New Zealand

The Indian men's cricket team has arrived in New Zealand for a lengthy all-format tour just days after wrapping up a home T20 series against the West Indies that ended in a two-all draw. The tour begins on Wednesday with a five-match T20 International series, followed by five One-Day Internationals and two Test matches.

Squads and Preparation

The T20 games serve as preparation for the twenty-twenty World Cup in twenty twenty-eight, which will be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The Indian team management faces selection choices for the opening slots, with Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi all in contention. Shreyas Iyer will captain the T20 squad, with Tilak Varma as vice-captain. The squad also includes wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Kuldeep Yadav. For the first three One-Day Internationals, Shubman Gill takes over as captain, and Shreyas Iyer serves as vice-captain. The roster features Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Gurnoor Brar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Kishan, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, and Kuldeep Yadav. The squad changes slightly for the fourth and fifth ODIs, with Shreyas Iyer stepping in as captain, Ishan Kishan as vice-captain and wicketkeeper, and the addition of Auqib Nabi, Kumar Kushagra, and Yash Thakur. Shubman Gill will also captain the Test team, with KL Rahul as his deputy. The Test squad features Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Anshul Kamboj, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Sai Sudharsan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mohammed Siraj.

Schedule and Broadcast

The T20 matches take place across Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland, and Hamilton from October twenty-second to November first. The One-Day matches run from November fourth to fifteenth across Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, and Tauranga. The two Test matches are scheduled in Wellington from November nineteenth to twenty-third, and in Christchurch from November twenty-seventh to December first. Sony LIV will live stream the entire series.

Context

Touring New Zealand presents unique challenges for visiting teams due to windy conditions, bouncy pitches, and distinct time zone shifts. Multi-format bilateral series require teams to manage player fatigue and squad rotations carefully across the different formats of the game.