Binny, Thakur omitted from Indian squad for New Zealand Tests

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday (September 12), left out all-rounder Stuart Binny and uncapped bowler Shardul Thakur in their trimmed down 15-man squad for the upcoming Test series against New Zealand at home, starting from September 22. The duo was part of the squad that played in the recently-concluded four-match Test series in West Indies.

With the New Zealand series set to kick-start a long home season, the Sandeep Patil-led selection panel - also comprising Vikram Rathour (North Zone), Saba Karim (Central Zone), MSK Prasad (South Zone) and Gagan Khoda (East Zone) - refrained from tinkering too much with the squad that emerged victorious in West Indies.

Virat Kohli will have at his disposal the option of playing three spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra while four pacers - Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav - will jostle for the spots in the fast-bowling department.

Among the batsmen, KL Rahul comes as a handy alternative for the first-choice opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay, the former particularly, who has endured a patchy form in Tests recently. Kohli will also be pleased by Cheteshwar Pujara's timely double century in the Duleep trophy final, after having struggled for runs in West Indies. Patil also hinted at handing Rohit Sharma the chance to establish himself in the longer format of the game by providing him with opportunities.

"Rohit (Sharma) is a fabulous player but he hasn't got a longer run in Tests cricket. He has been picked for one Test and then rested an entire season and again picked. So the selection committee, along with coach and captain, have decided that whoever would be picked will be given a fair amount of chances," Patil said while addressing the media after the squad selection.

While the selectors stuck with the core from the previous series, Patil revealed that several senior players - including Gautam Gambhir - came up for discussion during the hour-long meeting. The Delhi captain last played a Test for India in August 2014 in England, but his impressive run of form in the ongoing Duleep Trophy - with scores of 77, 90, 59 and 94 leading up to the final - prompted his ardent fans to arrive in Greater Noida with a 20-feet banner that read 'Bring Back Gambhir'.

"It is not just Gautam Gambhir, we also have many senior players. It is good that we have younger players to be able to replace a senior player like Gambhir," Patil said, lauding Rahul's recent rise.

New Zealand, who've already arrived in India, will play a warm-up tie against Mumbai in Delhi from September 16, before travelling to Kanpur for the first Test from September 22. After a break of three days, the action will shift to Eden Gardens in Kolkata for the second Test from September 30 before the final game in Indore from October 8. While the seventh-placed visitors will hope to give a good account of themselves and better their rankings, India, currently second, will have their sights firmly set on climbing to the top of the table.