Shubman Gill resumes his role as captain and Shreyas Iyer returns as vice-captain as India announce their 15-member squad for the three-match ODI series against New Zealand on Saturday, January 3. The series will start on January 11 in Vadodara, with the second and third ODIs set for January 14 in Rajkot and January 18 in Indore.
Gill comes back after missing the South Africa series due to a neck injury, while Iyer is included pending fitness clearance from the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (COE), having not played since suffering a spleen laceration during the Australia series in Sydney in late October. Mohammed Siraj makes a return to the squad, and Yashasvi Jaiswal along with Rishabh Pant remain in the ODI setup.
In a notable omission, Chennai Super Kings batter and captain Ruturaj Gaikwad has been left out despite a strong performance in the previous series, where he scored 113 runs in two innings, including a century, across three matches against South Africa.
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India’s squad for @IDFCFIRSTBank ODI series against New Zealand announced.
Details ▶️ https://t.co/Qpn22XBAPq#TeamIndia | #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/8Qp2WXPS5P
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 3, 2026
India’s squad for the ODI series against New Zealand: 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, Rishabh Pant (Wicketkeeper), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Hardik Pandya Misses India’s ODI Squad As COE Clearance Pending
India’s premier all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been left out of the ODI squad. The BCCI stated that the 32-year-old has not yet received clearance from the Board’s Centre of Excellence (COE) to bowl his full quota of 10 overs. With the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup approaching, the team management is taking a cautious approach to managing his workload.
Earlier, Pandya made headlines with a brilliant batting performance for Baroda in their Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 match against Vidarbha. Coming in at No. 7, he scored a blistering 133 off 92 balls, including eight fours and 11 sixes. Despite his heroics, Vidarbha chased down the target of 294 with nine wickets to spare, handing Baroda a defeat.
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