New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the Indian squad for the Test series against New Zealand. Indian Test captain Virat Kohli will miss the first Test, replacing him with vice-captain Rahane. Apart from Kohli, Rohit Sharma has been rested for the entire Test series.

#TeamIndia squad for NZ Tests:

A Rahane (C), C Pujara (VC), KL Rahul, M Agarwal, S Gill, S Iyer, W Saha (WK), KS Bharat (WK), R Jadeja, R Ashwin, A Patel, J Yadav, I Sharma, U Yadav, Md Siraj, P Krishna

*Virat Kohli will join the squad for the 2nd Test and will lead the team. pic.twitter.com/FqU7xdHpjQ

— BCCI (@BCCI) November 12, 2021

In fact, Virat Kohli has extended his leave after being ruled out of the three-match T20 series starting in Jaipur on November 17. Wicketkeeper-batsmen Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami are among the other big players who have been dropped from both tests in Kanpur and Mumbai. Rohit will also take a break after captaining the team in the T20 series. The Test match will begin in Kanpur on November 25. Virat Kohli will return to the Test in Mumbai starting December 3. Indian Test and ODI captain Kohli has spoken several times about 'bio-bubble' fatigue. He says this is causing a lot of mental distress to the players.

Team- Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Cheteshwar Pujara (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha, KS Bharat, Ravindra Jadeja, Akshar Patel, R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.

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