Mukesh Kumar has the strongest recent case for the last fast-bowling place in India’s squad for New Zealand, but Akash Deep has the stronger Test record. Mukesh took eight wickets as Rest of India beat Jammu and Kashmir by 167 runs in the Irani Cup in Srinagar, including 6/33 in the second innings. Akash Deep returned from a stress fracture in the same match. The selectors meet within 48 hours of 5 October, and only one or two pace places are open.
The Irani Cup Spell Explained
Rest of India beat Jammu and Kashmir by 167 runs in the Irani Cup in Srinagar, and Mukesh took 2/84 and 6/33 for eight wickets in the match. Rest of India made 237 and 319, with Smaran Ravichandran scoring a century in the second innings, so the batters gave the bowlers a platform. Jammu and Kashmir led on the first innings with 278, which made the eventual margin all the more striking. Winning by such a distance after trailing on the first innings is a statement.
Then came the collapse, and it was decisive. Chasing 279, the hosts were bowled out for 111, and Mukesh’s 6/33 did most of the damage. It was his 11th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket and just short of his career-best 6/32. A spell like that, in a match that carried selection weight, will not be forgotten in the meeting room, and it came when the pressure was highest.
Mukesh Kumar, New Zealand Test squad
The first-class record makes the argument stronger. He has 242 wickets in 62 matches at 21.82, and he finished the 2026 Duleep Trophy as joint-highest wicket-taker with 12 at 14.91. Those are the numbers of a bowler who takes wickets in bunches, not one who leans on a single good week, and that consistency is what selectors look for in a Test seamer. A bowler who combines that record with a fresh five-wicket haul is hard to ignore.
The squad is expected to be 16 or 17 strong, with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj already established. That leaves one or two places for a long queue of candidates. Mukesh has the fresher match evidence, and in a short two-Test series, fresh evidence tends to count for plenty because there is little time to correct a mistake. Bumrah and Siraj give the attack its leaders, so the remaining places go to support bowlers.
Akash Deep’s Comeback Match
Akash Deep played the same match after about six months out with a stress fracture, taking 3/43 and 3/25. Six wickets on his return is a strong sign, and team management reportedly wants him for the two-Test series. That is a convincing return after such a long layoff, and it makes the choice between the two quicks far harder than it looked a week ago. He took wickets in both innings, which suggests the bowling rhythm has not suffered.
His case rests on Test pedigree, with 28 wickets in 10 Tests. The worry is workload, because one match back from a stress fracture is a thin base for a five-day assignment. Selectors have to weigh a proven international bowler against the risk of rushing him, and that risk grows if the squad can carry only one of the two. None of that is easy to judge from one match.
Prasidh Krishna and the Pace Options
The Tests start on 19 November, and the tour opens with T20Is on 22 October. The selection meeting, led by interim chief selector Pragyan Ojha, is due within 48 hours of 5 October. That timetable leaves little room to wait for more cricket, so the decision will rest on what has already been seen, and what has been seen favours both bowlers in different ways. Neither bowler can be called a safe pick.
Prasidh Krishna adds another layer. He left the second ODI against West Indies in Guwahati on 30 September with a left hamstring injury after bowling five overs, and Anshul Kamboj replaced him for the third ODI. The injury is not thought to be serious, but he needs clearance from the BCCI Centre of Excellence, and that leaves the Mukesh Kumar New Zealand Test squad debate wide open. That uncertainty widens the field of options.