IND vs NZ: India squad for the New Zealand ODIs announced, Ruturaj Gaikwad dropped, Mohammed Shami misses out again

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the Indian squad for the ODI series against the New Zealand Cricket Team on Saturday, January 3. Some of the surprising calls were made with a few of of the performers getting dropped.

Shubman Gill returns to the squad and will captain India in the IND vs NZ three-match ODI series. He will be assisted by his deputy Shreyas Iyer, who returns after recovering from the horrific spleen injury, which he suffered during Australia's ODIs last year. But his availability will depend on his fitness.

There were a lot of reports which claimed that Mohammed Shami will be back in the side but the wait still continues as he hasn’t been picked again. Mohammed Siraj, however, is back in the ODI setup after missing the last series.   

Ruturaj Gaikwad, who slammed a century against South Africa, has been dropped as well along with Tilak Varma. While, Rishabh Pant, who reportedly was set to get dropped, has retained his place back in the side on the back of his decent performances in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will lead the batting department along with captain Gill. KL Rahul is the front-choice keeper, while Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy are the two all-rounders in the team. 

Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya have been rested. The pace bowling department features Siraj along with Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana.

India squad for the three-match IND vs NZ ODI series 

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.

IND vs NZ ODI series schedule 

• January 11 – Vadodara
• January 14 – Rajkot
• January 18 – Indore