Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill picked for NZ ODIs as RO KO return to enthrall fans.

The dynamic duo of Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer have been picked for the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand. Although the fans would be eager to see Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli back in action, Gill and Iyer would be keen to get some match practice as they return after a long break.

The return of the two senior batters has meant that Ruturaj Gaikwad and Tilak Varma have had to make way, this despite both scoring a century each in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Rishabh Pant holds on to his spot in the squad as the second 'keeper behind KL Rahul with Dhruv Jurel now left out.

Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested for the subsequent T20 series that follows the ODI series, and Bumrah in particular is yet to play an ODI after the world cup final in 2023. Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna form the pace trio with the addition of Siraj, while Kuldeep Yadav , Washington Sundar and Axar Patel form the spin trio.

Nitish Kumar reddy makes a comeback after being dropped from the South Africa series which means Axar Patel will have to make way without any fault of his. Yashasvi Jaiswal will continue to play as a back up opener as India look to start the year with another series win in order to start fine tuning their squad for the 2027 world cup in South Africa. 

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