The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is gearing up to announce India’s ODI squad for the upcoming three-match series against New Zealand, expected in the first week of January. The action kicks off on January 11 at the BCA Stadium in Vadodara. India’s ODI captain and vice-captain, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer, are set to make their return after missing the South Africa ODI series. Gill, who had been nursing a toe injury, is back in form and will play a couple of matches for Punjab in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) 2025-26. Meanwhile, Shreyas is currently undergoing rehabilitation at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE). It’s still unclear if he’ll be ready for the India vs New Zealand ODI series, but he seems to be on the right path for a comeback. With Shreyas and Gill back in the mix, two players will likely have to make way. Dhruv Jurel, who was the third wicketkeeper after KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, is expected to miss out. The same fate awaits Tilak Varma, who served as the backup for Ruturaj Gaikwad during the South Africa series. Ishan Kishan and Devdutt Padikkal have been making waves in the VHT, but unfortunately, there’s no room for them right now. Kishan has rejoined India’s T20I team, but his ODI return will have to wait a bit longer. He recently scored the second-fastest List A hundred by an Indian. Padikkal, boasting an impressive average of 83.64 in List A and back-to-back centuries, is still waiting for his first ODI call-up. Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah Likely to Be Rested Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah will be rested as the BCCI focuses on managing injury-prone players ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup. They haven’t played in the last two ODI series for India, and that trend looks set to continue. Axar Patel also won’t be making a return to the ODI side. He didn’t feature in the series against South Africa, and the BCCI hasn’t clarified whether he was rested or dropped. It’s possible he could be left out again, not due to poor performance, but because Ravindra Jadeja might be getting one last shot. Jadeja’s recent outings in the format haven’t been stellar; he was omitted during. India’s Likely ODI Squad for New Zealand Tour Shubman Gill (c), Shreyas Iyer (vc), Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana