The Black Caps are defending leaving World Cup star Rachin Ravindra out of the Test side to face Bangladesh following a historic loss against the team.
Despite Ravindra’s stellar form during the ODI World Cup, Henry Nicholls was preferred in the batting spot and Glenn Phillips given the all-rounder position.
“It’s more around our continuity of selection,” said Black Caps stand-in coach Luke Ronchi.
“Rachin hasn’t been in this test squad now for a while and all the batters have been playing really, really well. We finished the season off at home really well, so we stick with those guys, we back those guys.
“And then in that all-rounder role that GP [Glenn Phillips] played, it is that option of the ball spinning away from their left-hand batters. So that's how we've done it for a long time."
Ravindra finished fourth on the top-run scorers list with a total of 578 scored during his debut World Cup, including three centuries.
Ronchi acknowledged that Ravindra had been playing “fantastic cricket” and that “he was obviously on a high”.
“It is a different format so they are certainly factors that you take into account,” he said.
When asked by 1News if he regretted leaving Ravindra out, Ronchi gave a stern “no”.
Nicholls struggled in Sylhet with 19 in the first innings and just two in the second. In his previous test against Sri Lanka, he scored a double century.
Phillips took figures of 5/100 in the match and scored 42 and 12 at the crease.
The Black Caps are travelling to Dhaka today and will have two trainings before the second test begins on Wednesday.
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