All is not well between Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Recently, such claims have created an uproar on social media. Indian team’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has put an end to these speculations. Sitanshu Kotak has clearly said that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are in constant touch with the team management and also continuously contribute in the future planning of the team.

In fact, some reports had claimed that the relationship between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma with head coach Gautam Gambhir is not in good condition. Batting coach Sitanshu Kotak clearly said that Virat and Rohit contribute to the team’s planning, help in making strategies and also share their experience.

India vs New Zealand second ODI match will be played on 14 January. Earlier, while talking to the media, Sitanshu Kotak said, “He also discusses the ODI format and the upcoming matches with Gautam Gambhir. I stay there most of the time, they definitely share their experiences. I have always seen them talking to each other.”

Kohli: Don’t talk serious?

There have also been claims that Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir do not talk to each other. On this, Sitanshu Kotak said, “Obviously, you see a lot of things on social media. I try to avoid them.”

Regarding the communication gap between Kohli-Rohit and the team management, Kotak said that Rohit and Virat are senior players of the team and are very experienced. Kotak told that whenever both of them feel that they have to practice, they reach the venue 2 days in advance. Kotak said that

There is less than a month left for the T20 World Cup 2026 to start. The tournament will start from 7th February, which will be organized in India and Sri Lanka. A total of 20 teams will participate in the tournament, which have been divided into 4 groups of 5 each. 2 teams from each group will qualify for Super-8, the matches between which will decide the semi-finalist teams. Earlier, Wasim Akram had predicted his favorite teams for the top-4, however, he surprised everyone by not including Pakistan in it.

Wasim Akram’s top-4 teams

India and Pakistan are in the same group in the T20 World Cup 2026, the match between the two is scheduled on 15 February. At the international level, the Indian team has been continuously improving in the last several years, while Pakistan’s graph has gone downwards. Although Pakistan always talks only about big things, but Wasim Akram showed them the mirror.

Akram did not include his own country Pakistan in his favorite top-4. While predicting the semi-finalists, he named Australia, New Zealand and South Africa along with India.

India will enter the T20 World Cup as the defending champion. Let us tell you that till now the host of the tournament has never been able to win this trophy, so India has a good chance to break this record. Wasim Akram also included Australia and New Zealand in the semi-finalists, which could not reach the semi-finals in the previous edition. India won its second title by defeating South Africa in the final.

Big reason for not keeping Pakistan

Pakistan’s recent performance in ICC tournaments has been worrying, considering this perhaps Wasim Akram did not give a place to his own country’s team in the Favorite 4. Pakistan was eliminated from the group stage in the T20 World Cup 2024, while America had qualified for the next round along with India. Pakistan team has been seen struggling for quite some time now.

Ajinkya Rahane was the vice-captain under the captaincy of Virat Kohli for a long time, he is well aware of him and his behavior. A section that criticizes Kohli considers him arrogant. But Rahane believes that outsiders misunderstand his thinking and attitude towards the game. “He just gets immersed in his game,” Rahane said.

Is Virat Kohli arrogant?

Ajinkya Rahane said in a conversation with Cricbuzz, “The amount of talk about Virat Kohli is less. I have seen him closely at that time. We talk about his passion when he goes to bat. I believe that his eagerness to learn, attitude and the spirit of never giving up make him different from everyone else. Outsiders consider him arrogant, but it is not so. Kohli just gets immersed in his game.”

Ajinkya Rahane further said that remaining silent does not mean arrogance. This is his way of concentrating on the game. The cricketer said, “I have seen him two days before the match. He speaks very little, does not even talk much to the team players. He just creates his own separate zone. He listens to Airpods only what he likes to listen to. This helps him to concentrate on himself.”

It takes time for new players to understand

Rahane further said that it takes time for many players to understand Kohli’s attitude and why he is doing this. When he was not talking to his fellow players, I would understand that he was preparing his zone.

Ajinkya Rahane said, “Despite achieving everything in the game, Virat Kohli still has the desire left. His way of working is also amazing. Whenever you see him, you get to see something new. He always sees change. He always wants to do something new and contribute to the team.”

Kohli is in great form

Virat Kohli is currently playing in the ODI series against New Zealand. In the first match, he scored a brilliant inning of 93 runs, for which he also received the Player of the Match award. Before this, he had also scored a century in Vijay Hazare Trophy. Before that, he had scored centuries in 2 out of 3 ODIs against South Africa. India vs New Zealand 2nd ODI will be played on Wednesday, January 14 at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot.

After Mustafizur Rahman was dropped from IPL 2026 by KKR, Bangladesh Cricket Board refused to send its team to India for T20 World Cup 2026. However, now there is one month left for the tournament to start, in such a situation it is difficult to reschedule the tournament. However, ICC has not taken a final decision on this.

Bangladesh has cited security reasons behind this. According to him, his players are in danger in India. This is not the first time that a team has refused to go to any country for an ICC tournament citing security reasons.

West Indies and Australia refused to go to Sri Lanka (1996)

Towards T20 World Cup 2026, India and Sri Lanka had jointly hosted the 1996 World Cup. At that time civil war was going on in Sri Lanka. A few days before the start of the World Cup, a car blast took place in Colombo, which created an atmosphere of fear. The result was that the Australia and West Indies teams refused to go to Sri Lanka, whereas a joint team of India and Pakistan played a friendly match in Colombo. An attempt was made to show that everything was fine, however he still remained adamant on his words. Due to this, points were deducted from West Indies and Australia, Sri Lanka had won the title in this edition.

New Zealand refused to go to Kenya and England to Zimbabwe (2003)

In 2003, the Cricket World Cup was held for the first time in the African continent. Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa were the hosts. At that time, the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair refused to accept the power of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, due to which the England team did not go to Zimbabwe and their points were deducted. New Zealand refused to go to Kenya citing security reasons. Both had demanded ICC to shift their matches, which was not accepted. This season Australia won the title by defeating India in the final.

Zimbabwe withdraws from T20 World Cup (2009)

The 2009 World Cup was held in England, till then relations with the host country Zimbabwe were not good. In 2008 itself, an agreement was reached between Zimbabwe and the ICC that Zimbabwe would get the money without playing. Scotland took part in that tournament in their place.

Australia decided to withdraw from the World Cup (2016)

Bangladesh hosted the Under-19 World Cup in 2016, in which Australia decided to withdraw citing security reasons. Ireland’s team again played in the tournament instead of Australia.

India refuses to go to Pakistan (2025)

After 29 years, in 2025, Pakistan hosted any ICC tournament, Champions Trophy 2025 was organized in Pakistan. Although India refused to go to Pakistan due to security reasons, then it was played in hybrid model. India played its matches in Dubai, the final was also played in Dubai. Where India became champion under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma.

Shreyas Iyer, who is returning from injury, is playing his first ODI against New Zealand. In this match being played in Vadodara, excellent fielding of the vice-captain was seen, which everyone was surprised to see. He dismissed Michael Bracewell with a direct throw at the wicket from a long distance. Its video is also going viral.

India vs New Zealand 1st ODI is being played at BCA Stadium in Vadodara. Shubman Gill won the toss and decided to bowl first. Devon Conway (56) and Henry Nicholls (62) made a partnership of 117 runs for the first wicket, but the Indian bowlers made a good comeback by taking consecutive wickets in the middle order. Then Daryl Mitchell took over the innings, he scored 84 runs. New Zealand’s innings ended at 300, although if Shreyas Iyer had not dismissed Michael Bracewell with a direct throw, the visiting team could have scored at least 20 to 30 more runs.

Shreyas Iyer’s rocket throw

New Zealand’s score was 237 runs for 5 wickets. Harshit Rana came to bowl the 43rd over, on the last ball of this over, Daryl Mitchell played lightly and ran for a run. Shreyas Iyer, standing at long-on, came running towards the ball, then Mitchell ran for the second run. Iyer quickly picked up the ball and threw it straight on the wicket. The ball hit the stump straight on non-strike and Michael Bracewell had to return to the pavilion.

Commitment level: @ShreyasIyer15

Back from injury and giving his every single moment on the field!#INDvNZ1st ODI LIVE NOW https://t.co/WbMZTXL0By pic.twitter.com/oyFowZB4qH

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) January 11, 2026

Shreyas Iyer is known for his excellent fielding. Let us tell you that even during the Australia tour, he got injured while fielding, then he took an amazing catch by running backwards. During this, he got injured while falling on the ground.

BCCI has included Dhruv Jurel in the ODI team against New Zealand as a replacement for Rishabh Pant. India vs New Zealand 1st ODI is being played today at BCA Stadium in Vadodara, Pant had practiced for about an hour on Saturday. But suddenly he felt pain, after which he had to leave the practice and return.

BCCI said in its statement, “Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant suddenly felt pain in his lower right abdomen while batting in the nets during India’s practice session at the BCA Stadium in Vadodara on Saturday afternoon.”

BCCE further said, “He was immediately taken for an MRI scan and the BCCI medical team discussed his clinical and radiological reports in detail with an expert. Pant has been diagnosed with a side strain (oblique muscle tear) and hence has been ruled out of the ODI series. The men’s selection committee has included Dhruv Jurel in the squad in place of Pant, and Jurel has joined the team.”

Why Dhruv Jurel is a better replacement

Jurel is the best replacement for Rishabh Pant. The wicketkeeper batsman has had a stellar performance in the ongoing edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, scoring more than 500 runs in 7 matches. He had scored 123 runs in the last match against Bengal. Dhruv Jurel, playing for Uttar Pradesh, played an unbeaten inning of 160 runs against Baroda. Apart from these, he has scored half-centuries in 4 innings. Jurel, who is in excellent form, has been included in the national team as a replacement.

India’s updated squad

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

T20 World Cup 2026 is starting from 7th of next month (7th February), before that India’s last T20 series is against New Zealand. There is only one team for the T20 series and T20 World Cup starting from February 21, which also includes wicketkeeper Sanju Samson. Due to the absence of Shubman Gill, the possibility has increased that he will open the innings in the tournament, for which he is also working hard. One of his videos is going viral, in which Yuvraj Singh is seen giving him batting tips.

Yuvraj Singh played many memorable and brilliant innings as a cricketer. In the first edition of the T20 World Cup, he had made a record of hitting 6 sixes in an over. Now he has made his own identity as a mentor to young cricketers. Shubhman Gill and Abhishek Sharma are also his disciples, who are now making waves for Team India. Now Sanju Samson has reached him.

Yuvraj Singh gave batting tips to Samson

Sanju Samson was seen in the role of opener in the last several matches, but with the arrival of Shubman Gill, there was a change in his order again. Although Gill is not in the T20 World Cup 2026 team, there is a possibility that Sanju Samson will be seen in the role of opener from the first match. Meanwhile, the viral video of him and Yuvraj Singh is saying a lot. Sanju wants to capitalize on this opportunity, wants to make it memorable. Maybe that’s why he is taking batting tips from Yuvraj Singh.

Sanju Samson training session with Yuvraj Singh @YUVSTRONG12 @IamSanjuSamson pic.twitter.com/gBc04dbKXs

— Sanju Samson Fans Page (@SanjuSamsonFP) January 10, 2026

Sanju Samson’s T20I career

Sanju Samson has scored 1032 runs in 44 innings played in T20 International. He played as an opener most of the times. As an opener, he scored 559 runs in 18 innings, in this position he also played 3 century innings. However, he also became a ‘duck’ thrice.

Wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant got injured during practice, after which he had to return from the ground. The first match of India vs New Zealand ODI series will be played on Sunday, January 11 at the BCA Stadium in Vadodara. The news regarding Pant has increased the concern of the fans.

Rishabh Pant played his last ODI in August 2024. He has been struggling with injuries for quite some time, he was injured in England also. He is included in the ODI team against New Zealand as the second wicketkeeper along with KL Rahul. There is a possibility that KL Rahul will be played as wicketkeeper in the first ODI.

Rishabh Pant got injured

According to reports, Rishabh Pant got injured while playing in front of throw down specialists in the nets, a ball hit him just above his waist. After this he walked out of the field. However, before this he had practiced batting for 50 minutes. He looked to be in good shape. However, no official statement has come yet on Pant’s injury.

India vs New Zealand 1st ODI will be played on Sunday, January 11 at BCA Stadium, Vadodara. KL Rahul can be included here as a wicketkeeper batsman, who captained the ODI series against South Africa in the absence of Shubman Gill.

Virat Kohli Rohit Sharma ready for the #INDvNZ ODI’s#TeamIndia , @IDFCFIRSTBank , @imVkohli , @ImRo45 pic.twitter.com/8xWIo7CtBm

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 10, 2026

Indian squad

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

Where to watch live telecast of the match

India vs New Zealand 1st ODI will start at 1:30 pm. The match will be broadcast live on the channels of Star Sports Network. There will be live streaming on JioHotstar app and website.

Shubman Gill told in the press conference on Saturday how having Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the team helps him. The India vs New Zealand 3-match ODI series is starting from January 11, which will be Gill’s first ODI series at home as captain. During this, he also reacted on not being selected in the T20 World Cup 2026 squad.

Shubman Gill was out of the ODI series against South Africa due to injury, regarding which he admitted that it was a difficult period to stay away from the field after getting the captaincy. He said, “Obviously, it is never easy, especially when you are injured, watching your team play and you feel that you are not able to take part in all those matches, especially when you have just been made the captain.” Describing the importance of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the team, Gill said that one is one of the greatest openers in ODI and one is one of the greatest batsman in ODI.

What did Gill say about Rohit-Kohli?

Shubman Gill said, “Rohit Sharma is one of the greatest openers ever in ODIs and Virat bhai is one of the greatest ODI batsmen ever, so definitely when you have these two guys in your team, your life becomes a lot easier. If you are in a difficult situation, they (Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli) have gone through such situations and situations many times in their careers, so you can always go to them to know what they are thinking or what they will do and that information is available to anyone. is also very valuable to the captain.”

On not being selected in T20 World Cup 2026

Shubman Gill said, “As a player, you have the belief that if you play the World Cup, you will win for your team, you will win for your country. But despite this, I respected the selector’s decision, whatever decision they took, I wished the T20 team all the best and I am really hopeful that they will win the T20 World Cup.”

When and where to watch India vs New Zealand 1st ODI live

India vs New Zealand 1st ODI will be played on Sunday, January 11 at BCA Stadium, Vadodara. The match will start at 1:30 pm, toss will take place at 1 pm. The match will be broadcast live on the channels of Star Sports Network. Live streaming will be on JioHotstar app and website.

Tilak Verma was suddenly registered during the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He complained of a stab wound in the groin, after which he was taken to the hospital. He had to undergo surgery, due to which he will stay away from cricket for at least 2 weeks. BCCI has confirmed that Tilak Verma has been ruled out of the first 3 T20 matches against New Zealand, although the board has not announced his replacement. Giving his opinion on this, former cricketer Aakash Chopra said that Shubman Gill or Yashasvi Jaiswal should not be his replacement.

Why shouldn’t Gill or Jaiswal be the replacement?

Aakash Chopra shared a video regarding this on his social media platform. In this he said, “Tilak Verma is injured. There will be doubts about his playing in the T20 World Cup. A new player will have to be found. Can it be Shubman Gill? I would say no, Gill should not be there and Yashasvi Jaiswal should also not be there. Why? Because you do not need an opener. Tilak Verma bats at number three or four, so you need a player who bats in the middle order. If he can bowl a little then it is even better but you Don’t need an opener.”

Aakash Chopra said that he is the perfect replacement for Tilak Verma!

Aakash Chopra further said, “I would say Shreyas Iyer, you should select Sarpanch Sahab quickly. He is already playing well. He did well in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Now he is getting the opportunity, there is a need for a middle order batsman here, he is also an experienced senior player. He also did well in the IPL.

“But if you don’t want to go with Shreyas Iyer for any reason, then I would choose Riyan Parag as the second option. He can also contribute in bowling. As the third option, I would take the name of Jitesh Sharma. But my first choice is Shreyas Iyer.”

NEWS

Tilak Varma ruled out of the first three T20Is against New Zealand.

His availability for the remaining two matches will be assessed based on his progress during the return-to-training and skill phases.

Details | #TeamIndia , #INDvNZ , @IDFCFIRSTBank,

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 8, 2026

What did BCCI tell?

BCCI said in an official statement regarding Tilak Verma, “Indian batsman Tilak Verma underwent surgery for a stomach problem in Rajkot on Wednesday, January 7. He was discharged from the hospital on Thursday morning and will return to Hyderabad on Friday. His condition is currently stable and he is improving. Tilak will then start physical training and gradually return to skill-based activities once his symptoms are completely resolved and the wound is healed. He will play in the first three matches against New Zealand. “He has been ruled out of the T20 matches. His availability for the remaining two matches will be assessed based on his progress during the training and skill phase.”