Shubman Gill is set to return as captain for India against New Zealand in the ODIs, while Ishan Kishan is tipped to replace Rishabh Pant.
The Indian team
will kickstart their 2026 calendar year with a limited overs series against New Zealand ahead of the T20 World Cup.
The Kiwis are set to commence their white ball assignment from January 11, as a three-match ODI series will be followed by a five-match T20I series.
The T20I squad has already been announced as the same players heading to the T20 World Cup were selected for the series, under the captaincy of Suryakumar Yadav.
India ODI Squad vs New Zealand
For the ODI series, Shubman Gill is set to captain the side. After his omission from the T20 squad, Gill is expected to feature in the 50-over format. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are also in line to return to India colours for these three matches.
The two veterans are in tremendous form and translated the same in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy as well. Kohli scored a century and a half-century, whereas Rohit scored a century against Sikkim in the domestic tournament, further bolstering their status in the ODI side.
Amid this, reports indicate Rishabh Pant may lose his place to Ishan Kishan, who is in prime form. Kishan was also included in the T20 World Cup squad after his excellent outing in domestic circuit. The Jharkhand batter continued his purple patch with a stellar 33-ball century against Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Elsewhere, Jasprit Bumrah is expected to miss out the ODI series, as it has been the norm for him in recent months to manage workload. Arshdeep Singh may also be rested for the series with the likes of Khaleel Ahmed or Akash Deep poised for a return.
India Predicted ODI Squad vs New Zealand
Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna
