The Indian men’s cricket team will kick off their calendar year 2026 by playing a three-match ODI series against New Zealand in front of home fans. The three ODIs between India and New Zealand are scheduled to take place in Vadodara, Rajkot and Indore on January 11, 14 and 18, respectively. For the home series against the Black Caps, the BCCI selectors are expected to announce India’s squad later this week. Shubman Gill, who is the captain of India’s ODI side, missed the three-match series against South Africa in November-December 2025 due to a neck injury that he suffered on Day 2 of the first Test between the two teams in Kolkata.

He is fit now and is all set to return to the 50-over setup and will captain the hosts as well against New Zealand.

In Gill’s first ODI series as captain, India lost two out of three matches against Australia in October 2025, and the right-handed batter would now like to win his first ODI series against the Kiwis.
Gill’s return to the ODI setup could mean the end of the road for Yashasvi Jaiswal. Jaiswal played as an opener in the absence of Gill against South Africa and scored an unbeaten century in the third ODI on December 6 in Visakhapatnam.

But with Gill’s return, he will warm the bench once again.

Iyer hasn’t played a competitive match since getting injured on October 25, 2025, while fielding in Sydney against Australia.

Even if Iyer is picked for the New Zealand ODIs, then also Ruturaj Gaikwad is likely to retain his place in the ODI squad. Gaikwad scored a century for India as a No. 4 batter in the second ODI against South Africa.

KL Rahul is India’s first-choice wicketkeeper-batter in ODIs, and he will keep the gloves against New Zealand as well, but who will be his back-up stumper? According to reports, Rishabh Pant will not be picked for the New Zealand ODIs, and as Rahul’s backup, Ishan Kishan is likely to be considered.

Kishan is in red-hot form these days, and on December 20, he was also included in India’s T20 World Cup 2026 squad.

Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah were rested for the South Africa ODIs, and the selectors are expected to rest them for the New Zealand ODIs too, but the likes of Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh are all set to be picked.

Karnataka pacer Prasidh Krishna picked up four wickets against South Africa in the third ODI but was horribly out of form with the ball in the first two matches. It will be interesting to see if the selectors retain him in the squad or include Mohammed Siraj. Siraj, along with Axar Patel, played the ODI series in Australia but was ignored for the 50-over matches against South Africa.

India’s likely squad for New Zealand ODIs: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna