India pick two ODI squads for New Zealand: Gill leads the first three, Shreyas Iyer takes over with Ishan Kishan as his deputy

Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Prasidh Krishna and Anshul Kamboj fly out after the third ODI to get ready for the Tests. Tilak Varma, Kumar Kushagra, Yash Thakur and Auqib Nabi come in. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami miss out on all five games.

IND vs NZ 2026By Parag Sisodia · 16 Oct 2026, 11:29 pm IST · 6 min read

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India's two ODI squads for the New Zealand tour 2026, with Shreyas Iyer captain and Ishan Kishan vice-captain for the 4th and 5th ODIs

India have picked not one but two squads for the five ODIs in New Zealand. Shubman Gill leads the side in the first three games, with Shreyas Iyer as his vice-captain. For the fourth and fifth ODIs at Bay Oval, Iyer takes over as captain and Ishan Kishan becomes vice-captain.

The split is about the Test series that follows. The first Test starts in Wellington on 19 November, four days after the last ODI, and the selectors want Gill and a few Test regulars to have time to switch to the red ball.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are in both squads and will play all five games.

India's squad for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd ODIs

Shubman Gill (c), Shreyas Iyer (vc), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna (subject to fitness), Anshul Kamboj, Gurnoor Brar

India's squad for the 4th and 5th ODIs

Shreyas Iyer (c), Ishan Kishan (wk, vc), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Gurnoor Brar, Yash Thakur, Auqib Nabi

What changes after the third ODI

Four players leave and four come in.

Out: Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Prasidh Krishna, Anshul Kamboj. All four are in the Test squad.
In: Tilak Varma, Kumar Kushagra, Yash Thakur, Auqib Nabi.

Kushagra, the Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batter, gets his first call-up to India's senior ODI side. He replaces Rahul as the second keeper next to Kishan. He has been one of the form batters for India A this season, with 113 and 46 against Australia A in Puducherry, and he was called up to the India A squad in New Zealand when Rishabh Pant was hurt.

Ishan Kishan: from the wilderness to vice-captain

The biggest headline of the second squad is Ishan Kishan's promotion. He was out of the India set-up for a long time after the 2023-24 season, and now he will be second in command for the last two ODIs of a major away tour.

It is a sign of how much the selectors trust him again. Kishan has kept his place in the T20I side through the West Indies series and is in the T20I squad for New Zealand too. With Rahul gone after the third game, he is the senior keeper in the group, and the vice-captaincy makes his place in the XI for the last two games all but certain.

Is Tilak Varma in the ODI squad?

Yes, but only for the fourth and fifth ODIs. Tilak is the vice-captain of India's T20I side and is already in New Zealand for the T20Is, so he stays on and joins the ODI group once Gill leaves.

The selectors have not said why he was picked, but the reasons are not hard to see. Gill's exit opens a batting place, and Tilak has been scoring heavily in 50-over cricket away from the senior side. He captained India A to the tri-series title in Sri Lanka this year and was the top run-scorer of the tournament with 275 runs. His senior ODI record is thin, with 68 runs from five games and a top score of 52, so these two matches are a real chance to stake a claim before the 2027 World Cup.

Why was Yashasvi Jaiswal left out?

Jaiswal was in the ODI squad for the West Indies series, but he did not get a game. He only came on as a substitute fielder in the second ODI, where he took a catch. Now he is out of both New Zealand squads.

The selectors have not given a reason, but two things explain most of it.

There is no opening spot for him. Rohit and Gill are India's first-choice pair. Rohit made 32, 100 and 92 against West Indies, and Gill made 110 and an unbeaten 203. When Gill leaves after the third ODI, Kishan and Gaikwad are the obvious options to open with Rohit.
He is needed for the Tests. Jaiswal is in the Test squad and in the India A side playing three red-ball games against New Zealand A. The third of those, in Lincoln from 7 to 10 November, runs at the same time as the second and third ODIs. Playing red-ball cricket in New Zealand conditions is better Test preparation than carrying drinks in the ODIs.

So this looks less like a drop and more like a choice of format. It is still a tough break for a batter who has an ODI hundred to his name, and it shows how hard it is to break into India's top order right now.

Who else missed out?

Ravindra Jadeja: the biggest name dropped. He played all three ODIs against West Indies, with 2/75 in the second game, but he is not in either squad. Axar Patel comes back as the spin-bowling all-rounder. Jadeja is in the Test squad, so this is an ODI call, not the end of his tour.
Mohammed Shami: left out again, despite four wickets for 30 runs against Delhi in the first round of the Ranji Trophy last week. He has not played for India since the Champions Trophy final in March 2025.
Jasprit Bumrah: not in the ODIs. He is only in the Test squad for this tour.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar: in the T20I squad for New Zealand but not in the ODIs.
Hardik Pandya: still not in any of India's squads.
Dhruv Jurel: he was in the West Indies ODI squad but has made way, with Kishan and Kushagra as the keepers.

Who got the chance?

The bowling group is where the selectors have taken the most risks. With Bumrah, Shami and Bhuvneshwar all out of the ODIs, India's pace attack for New Zealand is built around Mohammed Siraj and Arshdeep Singh, with a lot of inexperience behind them.

Gurnoor Brar is in both squads. The tall Punjab quick started his ODI career with 3/27 against Afghanistan in June, but he struggled against West Indies, taking three wickets for 220 runs in the three games.
Anshul Kamboj keeps his place for the first three games. He went wicketless for 82 runs in nine overs in the third ODI against West Indies.
Yash Thakur, the Vidarbha seamer, earns his first ODI call-up for the last two games. He made his T20I debut against Zimbabwe in July and took five wickets for India A in their tri-series win in Sri Lanka.
Auqib Nabi, the Jammu and Kashmir seamer, comes back for the last two games. He played one ODI against West Indies and went for 84 in 8.5 overs.
Arshdeep Singh is in both squads, but he hurt his bowling shoulder in the fourth T20I in Hyderabad, so his fitness will need watching.

That is a young, mostly untested group to take to New Zealand, where India conceded 1,052 runs in three home ODIs against West Indies only a few weeks ago. We look at why that makes Shami's omission so hard to understand in a separate piece.