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[caption id="attachment_22056" align="alignnone" width="580"] Rohit Sharma has retained his place in the test squad for the forthcoming series against New Zealand. File Pic.[/caption] Internet Desk: Rohit Sharma has retained his place in the three match test series against New Zealand at home. The middle order batsman has not been in the best of form in recent times and looked to be struggling in the series against West Indies. Rohit’s inclusion in the test squad is bound to raise some eyebrows as he has not done well in this format. Sharma has played 18 test matches so far since his debut against West Indies at the Eden Gardens in November 2013. He scored a brilliant 177 runs on debut, but since then has not done justice to his talent. Selection committee chairman Sandeep Patil voiced his full support for him. According to Patil, “He is a fabulous player but has not got a longer run in test cricket. What we have noticed is that he gets picked for one test match but has to sit out for the next couple. He has not got a full series to prove his bating prowess. He has the backing of both the captain and coach. He is a match winner and so we thought of giving him a fair chance.” It was the last selection committee meeting for Sandeep Patil led national selection committee. There were quite a few decisions which will remain controversial. It was during the tenure of this selection committee when Sachin Tendulkar announced from international cricket. An emotional Patil commented, “We have taken some bold decision during our tenure. Obviously there will be some decisions which may not please everyone but we are not answerable to the media. We were employed by the BCCI and got full support from them over the last four years.” There were no real surprises in the test team with Shardul Thakur and Stuart Binny getting the axe. “We wanted to stick with the same squad that did well in the series against West Indies. We have picked the best possible squad only after discussing with Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble,” said Patil. Another batsman who retained his place in the test squad was opener Shikhar Dhawan. But the selection committee headed by Sandip Patil decided to give both the batsman another chance to come good with the bat. According to the selection committee chairman, “Same as Rohit, Dhawan too is a class player. Lack of consistency has been the biggest problem for Dhawan. We thought of giving him another opportunity to come good with the bat.” The Blackcaps will tour India to play a three-Test and five-match One-Day International (ODI) series from September 22. The visitors will also play a three-day practice game against Mumbai at the Ferozeshah Kotla in New Delhi from September 16 to 18. The three Tests will be played at Kanpur (September 22-26), Kolkata (September 30-October 4) and Indore (October 8-12). The following five ODIs will take place in Dharamsala, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Ranchi and Visakhapatnam on October 16, 20, 23, 26 and 29 respectively. India's last series was against the West Indies where the Virat Kohli-led team defeated the Caribbean side 2-0 in four Tests. Two of the Tests were more or less washed out due to rain. India's Test squad : Virat Kohli (Captain), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Murarli Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravindra Jadeja, Md. Shami, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan, Amit Mishra, Umesh Yadav