Somerville and Ajaz will lead NZ’s spin attack in India

Ajaz Patel and Will Somerville, along with Mitchell Santner form the three frontline spin options for New Zealand’s Test squad in their upcoming tour of India. In addition, Rachin Ravindra and Glenn Phillips have also been included in the squad.

New Zealand, the reigning ICC World Test Champions, will be without the services of Trent Boult and Colin de Grandhomme who have both made themselves unavailable for the tour with the prospect of increased time in bio-bubbles looming.

“Trent has already spent the best part of 60 days in hard managed isolation this year, while Colin had been on the road since May until recently returning home from Pakistan,” said head coach Gary Stead in support of the move.

“From talking to both players it was clear the best option for them was to be left out of this Test tour and for them to instead focus on being ready for the New Zealand home summer,” added Stead.

New Zealand Test squad: Kane Williamson (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Devon Conway, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Will Somerville, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Will Young, Neil Wagner

“It’s fair to say we’re expecting spin-friendly conditions and it’s great to have a range of options in this department,” said Stead.

“The success of our spinners on recent tours to the sub-continent has been encouraging and we hope they can once again feature prominently.

“It’s really exciting to begin the second instalment of the WTC and we know there’ll be an extra incentive for all the teams we play following our win in the inaugural competition,” he added.

New Zealand play three T20Is, starting on November 17, first on their tour of India and will have the same squad that has travelled for the T20 WC for that. The two Tests to be played in Kanpur and Mumbai begin on November 25 and December 03 respectively.