Rahul Dravid and Co. rested for New Zealand tour; VVS Laxman to take over: Reports

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After a humiliating end to the T20 World Cup 2022 campaign, Indian cricket will be back to playing bilateral series from 17 November. The team will tour New Zealand to play six white-ball games (3 ODIs, 3 T20Is). The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has already announced the squads for both formats. While Hardik Pandya has been selected to lead the team in T20Is, Shikhar Dhawan will captain the ODI squad. 

Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid and other support staff members are believed to have been rested for the New Zealand tour to manage the workload. VVS Laxman, the Head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) will be taking over the head coach role while other NCA staff will travel with the team to aid Laxman.

"The NCA team headed by Laxman with Hrishikesh Kanitkar (batting) and Sairaj  Bahutule (bowling) will join the New Zealand-bound squad," a BCCI source was quoted saying by PTI. 

This will not be the first time Laxman will be in charge of the Indian team. The former  cricketer previously coached India during the tours of Zimbabwe and Ireland and the  recent ODI home series against South Africa.

India's squad for New Zealand T20Is: Hardik Pandya (C), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (VC and WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik

India’s squad for New Zealand ODIs:  Shikhar Dhawan (C), Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (VC and WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Shahbaz Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen, Umran Malik