India vs New Zealand ODI series preview : A glimpse of Gill’s first step towards home captaincy.

In what appears to be a rather lopsided ODI leg of the tour, India and New Zealand lock horns in the first of the three ODI’s starting January 11 in Vadodara. The series also sees Rohit and Kohli return to the ODI set up and considering that the next series is in June in England, this series holds a lot of importance as India start preparing for the 2027 world cup.

Apart from Rohit and Kohli, the return of Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer who return to the side after being sidelined due to injuries. Gill in particular will have a point to prove not only with the bat, but also in the captaincy department as he will benefit from the guidance of Rohit and Kohli. Iyer will be keen to put in a solid performance with the bat as he looks to make it to the T20 squad as Tilak Verma is all but ruled out. 

The bowling too looks settled, with Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammad Siraj in the mix with Jadeja, Washington and Kuldeep forming the spin department.  Nitish Kumar Reddy makes a return the ODI squad as well after a hiatus

The return of Siraj in particular is heartening, as he returns to the ODI set up after a couple of months. Mohammad Shami and Axar Patel will consider themselves unlucky to miss out as the hosts look to clean sweep the Kiwis.

The visitors on the other hand have sent a side that is mighty short on experience to complete. Micheal Bracewell, who leads the side is one of the only experienced players along with Philips, Conway and Daryl Mitchell, but that gives a host of other players a chance to make a mark, especially the likes of Zakary Foulks, Mitchell Hay, Henry Nicholls as well as Will Young. The bowling is inexperienced too and to pull off a series win in India will be a gargantuan task. But you never know…. 2024 was a good example… maybe take a cue from there.

The first of the 3 games kicks off in Vadodara before moving to Rajkot, before the series concludes in Indore on January 18. 

India ODI squad: 

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.

New Zealand squad: 

Michael Bracewell (c), Adi Ashok, Kristian Clarke, Josh Clarkson, Devon Conway (wk), Zak Foulkes, Mitch Hay (wk), Kyle Jamieson, Nick Kelly, Jayden Lennox, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Glenn Phillips, Michael Rae, Will Young.

India vs New Zealand ODI Series Schedule 

1st ODI: Sunday, 11 January 2026, Vadodara

2nd ODI: Wednesday, 14 January 2026,  Rajkot

3rd ODI: Sunday, 18 January 2026, Indore