India's playing XI for the 1st ODI against New Zealand will have a different look from the SA ODI series. For one, captain Shubman Gill and vice-captain Shreyas Iyer return to the team following their injuries. It is a full strength India squad sans Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah, who are rested due ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026.
Even as focus remains on the T20 World Cup which is less than a month away, Kohli and Rohit will hog the limelight in the three ODIs over the next seven days.
There has been no dearth of game-time for the two superstars who played a couple of matches each in the Vijay Hazare Trophy’s league round, piling up big runs to underline that they are not going away anytime soon.
Gill will take Yashasvi Jaiswal out of the top order where he scored his maiden ODI ton in the last match against South Africa. The return of Shreyas Iyer should end a largely unsuccessful run of experiments in the batting order, with the 31-year-old set to claim his No 4 spot back.
KL Rahul’s continued role as a lower-order batter and wicketkeeper is set to keep Rishabh Pant out of the XI, with the latter remaining second choice in the 50-overs format.
While Iyer, Pant and Mohammed Siraj were not part of the preparations for the ODI series here in Kotambi until Saturday, Ravindra Jadeja trained at full tilt on Friday, signalling his availability.
Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya are not part of the ODI series to keep them fresh for T20 assignments, leaving the pace-bowling duties to Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna.
Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar and Jadeja will share the spin-bowling responsibilities in a format where evening dew and the flat nature of wickets across the country ensure that the emphasis shifts to containment rather than aggressive wicket-taking.
Probable India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (C), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh
