Jitesh Sharma in Indian Squad For NZ Series:

The new selection committee of BCCI announced the 16-member Indian team for the T20 series against New Zealand late on 13 January. Maharashtra’s wicket-keeper batsman Jitesh Sharma has also been formally selected in India’s T20 team for the first time. Let us look into details at Jitesh Sharma in Indian Squad For NZ Series.

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Earlier, he was added to the team after Sanju Samson was injured during the T20 series against Sri Lanka. Jitesh can make his India debut in T20 series against New Zealand. The T20 series between India and New Zealand will start from 27 January.

Who is Jitesh Sharma?

The wicket-keeper batsman Jitesh Sharma belongs to Amravati district of Maharashtra. He has played first class cricket for Vidarbha. He also represents Vidarbha in List A matches.

Jitesh has 553 runs in first class cricket while he has scored 1350 runs in List A cricket. At the same time, 1787 runs have come out of his bat in T20 cricket. He was a part of Punjab Kings in IPL 2022. He played games in the Indian Premier League for the first time during last season. During this, he scored 234 runs in 10 innings of 12 matches. His highest score in IPL 2022 was 44 runs.

Previously, after seeing his performance in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2015–16, Mumbai Indians acquired him in the 2016 IPL auction. Sharma now joined Punjab Kings.

Jitesh Sharma, a member of the Punjab Kings, made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut against the Chennai Super Kings the season before by scoring 26 runs off just 17 balls.

How Jitesh Sharma receives India call?

On January 3, the opening T20 game between India and Sri Lanka took place at Wankhede. Sanju Samson, the wicket-keeper batsman for Team India, suffered an injury while playing in this game. Sanju was also ruled out of the final two games because of his injury.

Jitesh Sharma then from nowhere was called for Team India in Sanju’s place. However, he was not given a spot in India’s playing 11. But he has now officially joined Team India for the first time for the T20 series against New Zealand.

Apart from Jitesh, Prithvi Shaw also received a chance to be a part of team Inida in the T20I squad on the back of a stellar performance in the Ranji Trophy, where he scored 379 against Assam, the second-highest individual score in the tournament’s history. Ruturaj Gaikwad has also made it to the T20I squad. Left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav’s match-winning performance in the ODI series against Sri Lanka has helped him break into the T20I squad.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will not be a part of T20 team, and Hardik Pandya will once again lead the side, with Suryakumar Yadav remains his deputy.

India squad for NZ T20Is:

Hardik Pandya (C), Suryakumar Yadav (vc), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Y Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Prithvi Shaw, Mukesh Kumar