Indian batter Shreyas Iyer will be making his Test debut against New Zealand in Kanpur. He will become India’s 303rd men’s Test cricketer.
India will take on New Zealand for the first Test in Kanpur from 25th November. Ajinkya Rahane will captain the Test in the absence of Virat Kohli.
India will be missing out on some of the big names including Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant for the Test and they will be going in with a pretty much of a young side.
KL Rahul, who had opened the innings for India in recent Tests, has been ruled out of this series because of injury. Suryakumar Yadav is named as his replacement. However, Yadav is unlikely to play this Test as India are opting to go with Shreyas Iyer.
In all likelihood, Shubman Gill will open the innings alongside Mayank Agarwal.
Hanuma Vihari, who usually batted in the middle order for the team, was not picked for this series but was sent to play in the India A team to practice for the upcoming series against South Africa.
Shreyas Iyer averages close to 53 in his First-Class career and has a strike rate close to 82.