New Zealand vs India, 2020: 3 players who have missed out from the Indian Test squad

2) Kuldeep Yadav

Kuldeep Yadav

Kuldeep Yadav who last played a Test match in January 2019 was a part of the Indian Test squad for the home series against South Africa and Bangladesh last year but unfortunately couldn't make it to the XI. With the Ravichandran Ashwin-Ravindra Jadeja combo working well for Virat Kohli's men in Test matches, the need for retaining Kuldeep for this series did not arise especially keeping in mind the New Zealand pitch conditions.

Though he proved himself by picking up a five-wicket haul against Australia in their own backyard in the only Test match he played during the four-match Test series when India toured Australia in 2018-19, the 25-year-old couldn't cement his spot in the Indian Test XI. Kuldeep might be a proven performer in the limited-overs format, but when it comes to the longer format it's a different ball game especially in seamer friendly New Zealand conditions. With India likely to field only one spinner in the playing XI, the toss up would be between Jadeja and Ashwin as both are capable of providing crucial runs down the order. Considering the all-round capabilities of Jadeja and the consistency with the bat he has demonstrated off-late and the proven match-winning credentials of Ashwin, the chances of the slow-left-arm chinaman bowler becoming a mainstay in the Test squad in the near future are looking bleak.