India's predicted playing XI for the 3rd Test vs New Zealand | November 1, 2024
India will face off against New Zealand in the third and final Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai from Friday, November 1. The hosts are down 2-0 in the series and cannot clinch the trophy.
There were reports that Harshit Rana would be added to the Indian squad for the final Test, but that hasn't transpired. Rohit Sharma and company have gone in with an unchanged squad and could trust the same XI that went down by 113 runs at the MCA Stadium in Pune.
India’s squad for the three Tests against New Zealand: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Washington Sundar.
On that note, here is India's predicted playing XI for the third Test against New Zealand.
Openers: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal
Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal have endured contrasting fortunes in the series thus far. While Jaiswal has continued to be one of the pick of the batters, the Indian skipper hasn't been able to find any substantial knocks. Rohit has been without a big score for a while now and will hope that a return to the Wankhede Stadium brings the best out of him.
Middle order: Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja
Changes are unlikely in the middle order. While Sarfaraz Khan is expected to hold on to his spot ahead of KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant will form the backbone once again. Kohli, in particular, is in need of a big score and will take heart from his excellent record at the Wankhede, where he averages close to 60 in Tests.
Ravindra Jadeja hasn't been at his best in either department lately. The southpaw will need to ensure that the lower order proves to be the difference between India and New Zealand.
Lower order: Ravichandran Ashwin, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah
Kuldeep Yadav played the first Test in Bengaluru before being replaced by Washington Sundar in Pune. The left-arm wrist-spinner won't be on the plane to Australia due to injury, so it's hard to see him come back into the mix.
Gautam Gambhir has been vocal about the importance of the World Test Championship and has insisted that workload management therefore goes out of the picture. Jasprit Bumrah, who didn't have much to do in the last Test, could thus lead the pace attack once again.
Akash Deep didn't get much of a chance to impress in Pune and could be picked ahead of Mohammed Siraj, who has been off the boil for a while now.