Kolkata Knight Riders' flamboyant opener Venkatesh Iyer has received his maiden national call-up for India's upcoming T20I series against New Zealand at home, starting from 17th November.

Iyer was named in the 16-member squad that the All-India Senior Selection Committee announced for the three T20Is that will be played in Jaipur (Nov 17), Ranchi (Nov 19) and Kolkata (Nov 21).

The southpaw had been in prolific form throughout the IPL this season, amassing 370 runs in 10 matches at an average of 41.11, which included four 50s.

Meanwhile, this will be India's first match under the tutelage of new head coach Rahul Dravid. Rohit Sharma will be leading the side after Virat Kohli's decision to step down as the skipper of the T20I side. Kohli, in fact, has been rested for the series while Hardik Pandya has been dropped from the squad. Yuzvendra Chahal and Mohammed Siraj have made a comeback.


The squad:

Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (Vice-Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Mohd. Siraj