Shreyas Iyer set to make his Test debut against New Zealand

The Indian cricket team will be up against New Zealand in the first of the two Test series. Stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane confirmed on Wednesday that Shreyas Iyer will be making his Test debut tomorrow. The batsman received his maiden Test call-up for the series against the Kiwis.

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Rahane will be leading from the front in the absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli, who has been rested by the management following a busy calendar year. Other big names, including Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Shreyas Pant, have also been rested for the match.

Other than that, KL Rahul will miss the two Tests after injuring himself earlier this week. The 29-year-old has sustained a muscle strain on his left thigh.

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Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill are expected to open the batting for India in the absence of both first choice openers – KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma. The youngsters will be looking to put up an impressive display with hopes of finding a permanent spot in the team.

While India’s batting line-up will be relatively new, head coach Rahul Dravid need not worry too much about the bowling. The squad is stacked with the likes of Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. All three players have the ability of weaving magic on Indian pitches.

Shreyas Iyer has an average of 52.18 in First-Class cricket and scored 4,592 runs in 54 games. However, his last appearance in a Test match was in February 2019 when he played in the Irani Cup fixture between the Rest of India and Vidarbha.

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On Wednesday, the team took part in a training session in Kanpur under the guidance of new head coach Rahul Dravid, Paras Mhambrey and Vikram Rathour.

Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Prasidh Krishna and Ravichandran Ashwin were among those attending the training session.