oppn parties ODI Squad Versus New Zealand: Balanced Team But Few Controversial Decisions

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ODI Squad Versus New Zealand: Balanced Team But Few Controversial Decisions

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2026-01-03 15:32:35

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

The Indian squad to face New Zealand in the upcoming ODI series has been announced today. There were a few surprises. But the biggest surprise was naming Shreyas Iyer as vice-captain ahead of K L Rahul, especially since there was a question mark about his availability as he is not completely fit. Hardik Pandya was not considered as the BCCI CoE has not cleared him to bowl 10 overs in a match. All speculation about Rishabh Pant was laid to rest as he was named in the squad.With K L Rahul able to keep wickets, no other wicketkeeper was selected, which meant that Dhruv Jurel has to miss out despite strong domestic performance.

 

The full squad is:  Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Shreyas Iyer (VC)*, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal

 

Mohammed Siraj makes a comeback after missing the series against South Africa. His selection was a foregone conclusion after the Board decided to rest Bumrah to manage his workload ahead of a punishing international schedule.

 

Mohammed Shami was ignored yet again. Agreed that at 35, he is old and agreed that he has fitness issues. But after taking 44 wickets across all three domestic formats this season, not even discussing his name suggests a predetermined decision rather than merit-based selection. Shami has time and again proven that he is a match winner and deserved a chance, especially when the selectors selected Rohit Sharma (38) and Virat Kohli (37), and named Shreyas Iyer vice-captain despite uncertain fitness

 

Shami's omission aside, on paper, the squad looks balanced with 7 batters, three bowling all-rounders, four pacers and three spinners (including two all-rounders). After their strong performance in the series against South Africa and later impressive domestic performance, there was no way the selectors could ignore Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. But since the next ODI World Cup is in October-November 2027, which is 22 months away, sooner, rather than later, the selectors will have to decide whether the two icons will be able to carry on in the same vein till then. If not, they will have to start building the team for the World Cup which, sadly, will be without them. That conversation, uncomfortable as it may be, needs to happen soon.

Note: The lead image is AI-generated

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