Shubman Gill will be back as India captain in the ODI series against visiting New Zealand, to be played at home from January 11, after Shreyas Iyer is kept as deputy pending fitness clearance. The BCCI also announced the inclusion of Mohammed Siraj in the 15-man squad and added that Hardik Pandya has been rested to manage his workload ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup, slated in February.
Gill had been out of action in the ODI series against South Africa with a stiff neck sustained during the Kolkata Test, but returned to face the same side in the T20Is. Iyer, meanwhile, is returning from a spleen injury he suffered while playing in India’s tour of Australia. Middle-order batsman has not played a match since October 2025, but has made strong progress through his recovery program.
The inclusion of Siraj augments the pace attack for India. The pacer was last seen in ODIs during the series in Australia and had also participated in returning to domestic cricket for Hyderabad’s games in both the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as well as Vijay Hazare. Gill, Iyer and Siraj have replaced Tilak Varma, Dhruv Jurel and Ruturaj Gaikwad in the squad that thumped South Africa 2-1 at home.
India’s batting line-up has the likes of experienced Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, as well as Yashasvi Jaiswal. KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant will be the wicket-keepers. The all-round department has figures such as Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy, whereas the spin attack is captained by Kuldeep Yadav. The pace quartet of Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana.
Hardik Pandya is missing as a precaution – BCCI said he’s still not fit enough to bowl 10 overs in an ODI. Both Gill and Iyer will play a game of Vijay Hazare Trophy on January 6 to prove match fitness before the national camp gets underway.
The ODI series starts in Vadodara on January 11, with Rajkot (January 14) and Indore (January 18) hosting the subsequent matches as Indian top guns, led by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, are all set to come back from a five-week tour of the West Indies.
India’s ODI squad for New Zealand 2026
Shubman Gill (capt), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vice-capt), KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh and Yashasvi Jaiswal (subject to fitness clearance).
