The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India’s 15-member squad for the three-match ODI series against New Zealand on Saturday (January 3) and included Shreyas Iyer as vice-captain. However, the Indian cricket board clarified that the Mumbai-based batter’s participation is subject to fitness clearance.
Iyer has not played a competitive match since getting injured while fielding on October 25, 2025, during an ODI match played against Australia in Sydney on October 25.
According to available information, Iyer is set to play a Vijay Hazare Trophy match for Mumbai on Tuesday (January 6) in Jaipur against Himachal Pradesh to prove his fitness, and if he gets clearance, then he will be immediately rushed to Vadodara to join the India
squad ahead of the first ODI on January 11.
And if there remains doubt over his fitness, then he will play one more Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Punjab in Jaipur on January 8 before joining the India squad.
As per Cricbuzz, if Iyer fails to get fitness clearance for the New Zealand ODIs, then in that case the selectors will add Ruturaj Gaikwad to the squad.
“In the unlikely event of Iyer not getting clearance, the selectors will draft Ruturaj Gaikwad into the squad. But the chances of that are very remote,” the report read.
Gaikwad, who usually bats in the top order, batted at No. 4 for India in the first two ODIs against South Africa in November-December 2025 and registered scores of 8 and 105 runs. But despite scoring a century in his last international outing, the 28-year-old right-handed batter was not included in India’s ODI squad.
Gaikwad is playing in the Vijay Hazare Trophy these days for Maharashtra and leading them as well. In his last two Elite Group C matches, he registered scores of 124 and 66 against Uttarakhand and Mumbai, respectively, in Jaipur.
India-New Zealand ODI series schedule
| DATE | DAY | MATCH | VENUE |
| January 11 | Sunday | 1st ODI | Vadodara |
| January 14 | Wednesday | 2nd ODI | Rajkot |
| January 18 | Sunday | 3rd ODI | Indore |
India’s squad for New Zealand ODIs: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Shreyas Iyer (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal.
