Team India's upcoming assignment is against New Zealand, where both teams will play a 3-match Test series. The first Test match is scheduled to take place at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, from October 16. The series is essential for both teams because of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025. India will straight away qualify for the WTC Finals if they whitewash this series and draw one match in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024.
New Zealand, on the other hand, will have to win most of their upcoming matches to book a spot since England are playing really well against Pakistan and have higher chances than the Kiwis. There are mostly 3-4 teams in the qualification process, and India are one of them whose chances are better than the others. So, the Men in Blue will look to put extra effort into winning the series.
IND vs NZ Pitch Report:
The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch is known as a batting paradise and a bowling nightmare. The batters get the privilege of short ground and flat pitch, where the ball comes onto the bat nicely. This gives them the confidence to hit the ball around the park. The bowlers have to put in extra effort to take wickets. Any captain who wins the toss should, by default, look to bat first and put up a mammoth total on the board.
IND vs NZ Weather Report:
It continues to rain steadily, according to live photos. The wait goes on, and the plaza stays covered. It shouldn't take more than 45 to 60 minutes for everything to start up when the rain stops. Due to the intense rain, Bangalore City's schools and colleges have also been closed, yet a large number of supporters have come to the stadium in the hopes of seeing a game. This demonstrates their passion for cricket. As a result of rain, Wednesday's toss between India and New Zealand was delayed.
IND vs NZ squads for the series:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep.
Travelling Reserves: Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mayank Yadav and Prasidh Krishna
New Zealand: Tom Latham (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Michael Bracewell (1st Test only), Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell, Will O'Rourke, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ben Sears, Ish Sodhi (2nd and 3rd Test only), Tim Southee, Kane Williamson, Will Young.