Picture Credit: Instagram/@shikhardofficial
As the World Cup ended on a disappointing note, Team India would like to redeem itself when they tour New Zealand for white-ball series. While Hardik Pandya will lead the squad in three T20 internationals, veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan will take the charge for ODI series.
Ahead of the New Zealand tour, Shikhar Dhawan was seen sweating out in the nets as he prepares for the bilateral contest against quality side like New Zealand. The 36-year-old shared a short clip of his preparation on Instagram with a special caption. “Set your goals high and don’t stop till you get there!”, Dhawan captioned the video.
Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan has also been appointed as Punjab Kings skipper for IPL 2023 as senior pro replaced Mayank Agarwal following poor performance in IPL 2022. Notably, Dhawan has been leading the second-string squad in the absence of senior players from quite some time now.
Ahead of the T20 World Cup, the Men in Blue clinched series against West Indies and South Africa under the leadership of Shikhar Dhawan. Speaking of New Zealand tour, senior cricketers like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and few others have been rested from the white-ball series against New Zealand. Indian wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant has been appointed as the vice-captain of the squad. The likes of Umran Malik, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav have been roped in for the ODI series against New Zealand.
The bilateral contest will kick start with three-match T20Is, starting from November 18 at Sky Stadium, Wellington. Hardik Pandya will lead the squad in T20I series as Rohit Sharma has been rested after gruelling T20 World Cup in Australia.
India’s ODI squad for New Zealand:
Shikhar Dhawan (C), Shubhman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (VC & wk), Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Shahbaz Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen and Umran Malik