Selection committee to pick India squad on September 12th

The selection committee will convene a meeting in Mumbai as they pick the squad of players who will feature in the first Test match against New Zealand at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. The first Test is scheduled to begin on the 22nd of September.

Since the series loss down under, the Indian team has been on a roll. Virat Kohli, who has been skipper for almost a year and a half now, has led his young side to series wins over Sri Lanka, South Africa and West Indies. After the series in Australia, which ended rather disastrously for India, they drew the one-off Test match in Bangladesh.

However, shortly afterwards, they became this unbeatable juggernaut. After going 1-0 down in the Test series against Sri Lanka, the Indians clawed their way back up to clinch the series 2-1. This was shortly followed by a 3-0 hammering of South Africa in India as the Indians inched closer to the top spot in the world rankings.

Shortly after the completion of the World T20, Kohli led India yet again in a four-match Test series in the Caribbean against a patched-up West Indies unit who were visibly hungover from their laurels in the World T20. Needless to say, the Indians clinched a 2-0 win in a series that was somewhat marred by rains as well as terrible outfield conditions.

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The Indians have a tight home schedule which sees them play 13 Test matches in the 2016/17 season. After having played four matches against the Windies, they will now play the remainder of the matches against New Zealand, England, Australia, and a one-off Test match against Bangladesh.

Reports, as well as calculations, go on to suggest that should the Indians clinch a 2-0 win in the Test series, they will leapfrog the Pakistanis who are currently positioned at the first position in the Test team rankings.

A few of the selectors are currently with the India ‘A’ side in Australia. However, Vikram Rathour, Saba Karim, and Anil Kumble will finish watching the first two days of the Duleep Trophy after which they will fly to Mumbai where they will sit down, put their heads together and meet up with Sandeep Patil in Mumbai.

Gagan Khoda and MSK Prasad will join the meeting on Monday via video conference.

Also check out – India v New Zealand: India’s predicted Test squad