India's ODI and Test squads for the New Zealand tour wait on three fitness calls

India's selectors are holding back the ODI and Test squads for the New Zealand tour while three injured players are assessed at the Centre of Excellence

India named a T20I squad and an India A squad for the tour on October 6, and the BCCI said then that the ODI and Test squads would follow later. More than a week on, they have not, and a report in The Times of India says the Men's Selection Committee is waiting for clearer fitness updates on Rishabh Pant, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana before it picks them.

All three are working their way back at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. "With both Pant and Krishna, the injuries don't look severe at the outset," a board source told the newspaper, which added that the medical staff are taking a cautious view rather than rushing anyone through a return-to-play programme.

The delay has a deadline attached to it. The squads are expected to leave for New Zealand on October 28, the ODI series opens on November 4 and the two-Test series begins on November 19.

What the selectors have already named

The T20I squad announced on October 6 runs to 16 players, with Shreyas Iyer as captain and Tilak Varma as his deputy, and it brought Bhuvneshwar Kumar back into the setup. That series starts in Christchurch on October 22.

The India A squad named the same day has 15 players under Dhruv Jurel, with Pant included subject to his fitness. Its three multi-day matches against New Zealand A begin in Lincoln on October 24 and finish on November 10.

That schedule is what makes the selection awkward: the red-ball tour games are the only competitive cricket available to a Test candidate before the first Test, and Pant will miss two of them.

Prasidh Krishna's hamstring

The BCCI confirmed on October 1 that Prasidh had sustained a left hamstring injury during the second ODI against West Indies in Guwahati and was ruled out of the third. Anshul Kamboj was named as his replacement and joined the squad in Chandigarh.

He had bowled only five overs in Guwahati on September 30 before the management withdrew him as a precaution. He reported to the Centre of Excellence and was given a recovery window of about three weeks, which runs out close to the date the touring party is due to fly.

Pant's side strain and the India A reshuffle

Pant picked up a left side strain while leading Rest of India in the Irani Cup. The BCCI said on October 12 that he would miss India A's first two four-day matches, that a call on the third would be taken later, and that he "remains under the care of the BCCI Medical Team and is recovering well".

Kumar Kushagra was named as the wicketkeeper-batter for those first two games. Pant had wanted red-ball match practice before the Test series, and the strain has cut into it.

Harshit Rana's longer wait

Rana's absence is the oldest of the three. He has been at the Centre of Excellence since July, and a return pencilled in for September was pushed back when he was hurt during a match simulation in his return-to-play programme.

The selectors are reported to want him in both squads, valuing him as a seam-bowling all-rounder who can bat at No. 8. That is a role India have struggled to fill in overseas Tests, and it explains why the committee is prepared to wait rather than pick around him.

The dates the committee is working to

India A's third four-day match ends on November 10, with a warm-up fixture expected after it and before the first Test in Wellington. The second Test starts in Christchurch on November 27.

None of the three has been ruled out of the tour, and the board has issued no update on the squads beyond the October 6 release. Any announcement now looks likely to come only once the Centre of Excellence has signed off on the fitness tests.

Until those clearances arrive, India's ODI and Test squads for New Zealand remain the only pieces of the tour still missing.

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