After a lot of fanfare, Gautam Gambhir has been included for the Test series against New Zealand in place of KL Rahul. Off-spinner Jayant Yadav too makes it to the Indian squad. He will replace Ishant Sharma for the second Test. Gambhir on the other hand will be a part of the remaining two Tests. Rahul suffered an injury in his right hamstring, which has ruled him out for the rest of the series. Ishant is still to recover from Chikungunya. He was diagnosed with it just ahead of the first Test at Kanpur. Gambhir underwent a fitness Test earlier on Tuesday at National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore and after a good show in the Duleep Trophy, he makes it to the Indian team.
Last of Gambhir’s 56 Tests for India came against England at The Oval in 2014. After a poor show throughout that summer, Gambhir found himself omitted from the Test squad and never made it back. Jayant on the other hand is yet to make his international debut, but was part of the Indian team that toured Zimbabwe for a limited-overs series under the leadership of MS Dhoni. Gambhir however faces competition from Shikhar Dhawan for the opening slot. Gambhir was dropped from the playing XI for the first Test as India went in with the opening combination of Rahul and Murali Vijay. Gambhir, who had formed a formidable opening partnership with his Delhi teammate Virender Sehwag will be looking to earn back his opening slot.
People expected Gambhir to make a comeback following his performance in domestic circuit and recently concluded Duleep Trophy where he captained India Blue to the first-ever pink ball and day-night Duleep Trophy tournament played at Greater Noida. Fans expressed their disappointment when he was not selected in the team as they expressed their opinions on Twitter.
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