Sanju Samson made a long-awaited return to T20I cricket during India's recent series against Sri Lanka

Samson omitted as India name squad for New Zealand tour

Sanju Samson made a long-awaited return to T20I cricket during India's recent series against Sri Lanka

Samson played only in the final game of India's 2-0 series win, having a largely quiet game. He affected no dismissals with the gloves, and when tasked with maintaining the momentum built by his side's opening partnership Samson scored a six from his first ball before being dismissed by his second.

The named squad will contest five T20Is against New Zealand, beginning in Auckland on Friday 24 January, and finishing in Tauranga on Sunday 2 February. The squad retains all three players vying for the opener spots ahead of this year's ICC Men's T20 World Cup - namely Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul - with India seemingly still deciding on their favoured pair.

SQUAD: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur