Kohli rested, Ajinkya Rahane to lead India in first Test against New Zealand

Senior Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has been named as the vice captain in the first match as the Indian cricket board (BCCI) announced a 16-member team for the two-match series.

Kohli, who has been rested for the first Test, will join the squad as captain in the second match.

Wriddhiman Saha and KS Bharat have been picked as the wicketkeeper-batsmen as Rishabh Pant found no place in the squad.

India's newly-appointed T20 captain Rohit Sharma has been rested for the series.

The two Tests will be played in Kanpur and Mumbai from Nov 25 and Dec 3 respectively.

India’s Test squad: Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Md. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.