Jasprit Bumrah to be Rohit Sharma's deputy in home Test series against New Zealand
New Delhi, Oct 11: Premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah was on Friday named vice-captain of India for the upcoming three-match home Test series against New Zealand, strongly indicating his possible elevation to the leadership role when the team travels to Australia from next month.
The three-match series against the Kiwis will start on November 16 in Bengaluru, followed by the second Test in Pune from October 24 and third game in Mumbai from November 1.
As reported by PTI on October 10, regular captain Rohit Sharma could skip one of the first two Test matches in Australia owing to personal reasons.
The five-match Test series in Australia starts on November 22 in Perth and the second match will be held at Adelaide from December 6, and there is a possibility that Rohit could give either the first or the second game a miss.
Adding strength to that thought is the fact that India did not name a vice-captain for the recent home series against Bangladesh, which they won 2-0.
Bumrah has prior experience of leading the side as he wore the captain’s armband during the rescheduled fifth Test match against England in July 2022 at Edgbaston. He also led India in the away T20I series against Ireland in 2023.
Recently, Bumrah also reclaimed his No. 1 spot in the ICC bowlers’ ranking after a stellar effort against Bangladesh.
The 30-year-old has been in riveting form in red-ball cricket, grabbing 42 wickets from eight Tests after his comeback from an injury in August 2023. He has an excellent average of 14.69 in this period.
Overall, Bumrah has played 38 Tests, taking 170 wickets, averaging 20.18 with 10 five-wicket hauls.
Yash Dayal, who was part of the squad for the Bangladesh series, was not selected after the pacer sustained a shoulder injury during Uttar Pradesh's Ranji Trophy match against Bengal in Lucknow on Friday.
It is not yet clear how long Dayal will take to recover from the injury, casting a shadow over his chances of touring Australia.
Other than that, all the players who did duty against Bangladesh recently were retained in the 15-member squad which will be led by Rohit.
Pacer Mohammed Shami, who is recuperating after an ankle surgery, was not considered, as the wait for his return to international cricket continues.
All-rounder Harshit Rana, middle-order batsman Nitish Kumar Reddy, pacers Mayank Yadav and Prasidh Krishna were named as travelling reserves in the squad, also underlining the prioritised place for these young players in the long-term Indian scheme of things.
Both Nitish and Mayank have been impressive in their maiden outing for India during the ongoing three-match T20I series against Bangladesh.
India's squad for the New Zealand Test series: 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 and Akash Deep.
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Andhra to be developed as knowledge, creator economy hub: CM Naidu
New Delhi/Amaravati (PTI): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said the state is taking steps to transform itself into a knowledge and creator economy hub with a strong focus on artificial intelligence and quantum technology.
He noted that Andhra Pradesh has abundant tech-driven youth and the government is formulating plans to train them in futuristic technologies with support from global technology firms.
"Our goal is to transform Andhra Pradesh into a knowledge hub by focusing on AI, quantum computing, data centres, drone cities and space cities. The youth will remain our biggest asset over the next 25 years, and we seek global partnerships to scale up the creator economy," said Naidu during his interactions at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in Delhi.
Naidu, who participated in the summit in the national capital, also held meetings with several global technology leaders and industrialists to explore collaborations in artificial intelligence, clean energy and innovation ecosystems.
He met Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, Autodesk AI Head Mike Haley, Aramco India Director Abdul Rehman AiThukair, LEGO Education Vice President Tom Hall, Aadhaar Founder and CTO Srikanth Nadhamuni, Khosla Ventures Managing Partner Vinod Khosla and others at the AP Pavilion.
The chief minister also held discussions with Saudi Aramco representatives on clean energy projects, including solar initiatives, and invited the company to expand operations in Andhra Pradesh, stating that the state is highly suitable for green energy production.
He sought support from NVIDIA Vice President Callista Redmond for establishing AI Living Labs and proposed partnerships through the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub to promote youth innovation, including collaborations with IIT Tirupati and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati under the Andhra Pradesh Future Innovation and Research for Science and Technology (AP FIRST) initiative.
Naidu urged Autodesk leadership to support the development of Global Capability Centres in design engineering and requested the establishment of an Innovation Academy in Amaravati aligned with quantum technology, besides proposing AI and robotics learning labs in partnership with LEGO Education.
He also discussed AI-driven smart governance solutions with Quantela Inc Chairman Sridhar Gadhi, while World Bank Group Digital AI Regional Director Mahesh Uttamchandani met Naidu on the sidelines of the summit.
Following the meetings, Naidu visited various exhibition stalls at the summit, including those of NVIDIA, Tata, Intel and Microsoft, and reviewed AI applications across agriculture, healthcare and industry.
