Rishabh Pant's ODI career comes to an abrupt end; Ishan Kishan to replace Delhi Captain for New Zealand ODIs

The Indian team management was quick to announce the T20I squad for the ICC T20 World Cup as well as the 5-match series against New Zealand to prepare for the ICC event. However, the same BCCI board of selectors, headed by Ajit Agarkar, has been delaying the announcement of the ODI squad. 

The three-match series begins on the 11th of January, and the three matches are highly anticipated since the Indian greats Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will play their last 3 games before marking a long absence from the game, with no more ODI series scheduled for India till the tour of England in the June–July window. 

Rishabh Pant to be dropped from India's ODI lineup 

India has almost finalized their plans for the T20 World Cup; hence, Gautam Gambhir's experimentations would now move to the longer limited-overs format. With his latest strategies, wicket-keeper and Delhi batsman Rishabh Pant is likely to be dropped from the squad for the home series against New Zealand, as suggested by reports from India Today. 

Pant, who was picked as a constant backup for KL Rahul, last played for India in an ODI back in August 2024 against Sri Lanka. The last time he was part of India's ODI squad was in the three-match series against South Africa. 

Rishabh Pant recently played in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for the Delhi side and returned with inconsistent scores of 5 and 70 in the two innings. Hence, his drop might also be due to Indian selectors currently favouring momentum and selection calls. 

Meanwhile, Shubman Gill is likely to be back as India's ODI captain after missing out on the South Africa series, where KL Rahul captained in his place. Considerably, Shreyas Iyer has also resumed training at the Centre of Excellence, but is far from receiving a clearance to play. 

Ishan Kishan suggested as Pant's replacement on the ODI squad—Revealed reports 

In Rishabh Pant's absence, Ishan Kishan, the Jharkhand wicket-keeper, has been positioned as a frontrunner in the ODI squad. The left-handed batter has reportedly been considered after his splendid run in the domestic circuit. 

Kishan's last appearance came during the ICC ODI World Cup match against Afghanistan on the 11th of October 2023. Kishan finished as the highest run-getter in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and then scored a blistering hundred with a strike rate of over 300 in the first match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy season. 

Kishan scored the 33-ball century against Karnataka, which marked the second-fastest List A century by an Indian cricketer and the fourth overall in List A history. Kishan also has a double century in one-day international matches to his name. 

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