On Sunday, January 11, Team India will take the field for the first time in 2026 as they begin their ODI series against New Zealand. The captain returned to captain the Indian team after missing the series against South Africa due to a neck injury, and the BCCI selectors met last week to announce the 15-man squad for the match.

In the series against South Africa, which India won 2-1, up to 12 players were kept on, despite the fact that some players were unexpectedly left out despite playing well. As the BCCI keeps them for the T20 World Cup, they are still missing out.

Shreyas Iyer (VC)*, Washington Sundar, Mohd Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rishabh Pant (WK), Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shubman Gill (C)

The return of captain Shubman Gill following his recovery from a neck injury is one of the squad's biggest changes. It makes sense that he replaces stand-in captain KL Rahul. The vice captain, Shreyas Iyer, is also making his first appearance since the October tour of Australia. After playing two games for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he was cleared to play in the series after being selected subject to fitness. Mohammed Siraj, who was left off the team for the South Africa series, has returned, marking another significant shift in the squad.

The most puzzling choice was to exclude Ruturaj Gaikwad, but even if he had been selected, Iyer's return to bat at number four would have prevented him from playing. Even so, Gaikwad should have been kept in the team after smashing a century while batting out of position. Tilak Varma, who replaced Iyer in the previous series, is also not in the squad, and Dhruv Jurel, who was left out without a chance in the previous series, has been scoring runs for fun in the current Vijay Hazare Trophy.