In the year 2026, the Indian team will play its first series with New Zealand. New Zealand’s tour of India will run from January 11 to January 31, during which three ODIs and five T20 matches will be played between the two teams. Team India has been announced for the T20 series against New Zealand, but the ODI squad has not been announced yet. Know here which players can get a chance in the ODI squad.

Gil’s back! Jaiswal OUT from playing eleven

ODI team captain Shubman Gill suffered a neck injury in the second Test against South Africa. Due to this reason he could not play the ODI series against South Africa. But now he may return in the series against New Zealand. Gill’s return will directly mean that even if Yashasvi Jaiswal is selected in the squad, he will sit out of the playing eleven, who played an unbeaten 116-run century against South Africa.

It is almost certain that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will play in the series. Both are coming after scoring centuries for their respective teams in Vijay Hazare Trophy. KL Rahul will be the first choice wicketkeeper in the ODI team, while questions have arisen regarding the back-up wicketkeeper. According to media reports, Rishabh Pant will not get a place in the ODI team, Ishan Kishan may be given a chance. BCCI has recently included Kishan in the T20 World Cup squad.

Will Shreyas Iyer be able to make a comeback?

Nothing is clear yet about Shreyas Iyer, his selection in the ODI series against New Zealand will depend on his fitness. Iyer was injured while fielding during the ODI series against Australia. Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah were rested for the South Africa ODI series, it is reported that they may be rested for the New Zealand series also. The reason for this could be to keep him completely fit for the T20 World Cup.

Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh can also be selected in the squad. Prasidh Krishna took 4 wickets in the last ODI against South Africa, but he proved to be very expensive in the entire series. It will be interesting to see whether Prasidh is able to secure his place or Mohammad Siraj is brought back.

India’s probable squad against New Zealand: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

The next international series of the Indian cricket team is against New Zealand. The India tour will start with a series of 3 ODI matches, the first match of which will be held on January 11 at the BCA Stadium in Vadodara. BCCI can announce the team in the first week of January. 2 changes are possible in the team.

Indian Test and ODI team captain Shubman Gill was injured in the first Test against South Africa. He suffered a leg injury, after which he was out of the Test and then the entire ODI series. Although he returned from the T20 series, his performance was poor. The result of this was that he was not selected in the team for the T20 World Cup.

Will Shreyas Iyer return?

Talking about Shreyas Iyer, he was badly injured during the Australia tour, he is currently undergoing rehabilitation process at BCCI’s Center of Excellence. The good thing is that Iyer has started practicing batting in the nets, which is very good news for his comeback.

Difficult to have Ishaan or Padikkal in the team

Ishan Kishan and Devdutt Padikkal are performing brilliantly in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, but right now there is no place for them in the team. Ishaan has been selected for the T20 World Cup and the T20 series against New Zealand, but he may have to wait for the ODIs. On the other hand, despite Vijay Hazare scoring two consecutive centuries, it seems difficult for Padikkal to be selected in the team.

Tilak Verma and Dhruv Jurel will be out

With the arrival of Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Verma and Dhruv Jurel will have to be out. KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant will be included in the team as 2 wicketkeepers, Tilak Verma may also have to go out, who was the backup of Rituraj Gaikwad.

Pandya and Bumrah rested

Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah can be rested from the ODI series. Both are important players in the T20 World Cup, due to workload management they will be rested from the ODI series against New Zealand. He has not played in the last 2 ODI series for India, and this will continue.

Akshar Patel did not play in the ODI against South Africa, the BCCI did not give the reason that he was rested and was ruled out. He may also be out of the ODI series against New Zealand. Ravindra Jadeja may get his last chance, whose performance in the last few matches in this format has not been good. He was dropped from the team in Australia and could not impress with the ball against South Africa.

India’s probable ODI squad against New Zealand

Shubman Gill (captain), Shreyas Iyer (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana.