CHENNAI: Jasprit Bumrah has been rested for the ODI leg of the New Zealand tour while skipper Shubman Gill and KL Rahul will skip the fourth and fifth match to prepare for the Test series, the BCCI announced on Friday.
With the focus firmly remaining on the all-important two-Test series, the Indian team management have picked a full strength squad for the red-ball leg. Rishabh Pant remains the only player who is subject to fitness at the moment while Akash Deep and Anshul Kamboj have earned their comebacks to the Test team. Deep was out of action due to a prolonged injury while Kamboj was left out after a forgettable debut in England in 2025
The latter was amongst the wickets in the IPL and in an India A red-ball match against Australia A. Deep, meanwhile, impressed the selectors in the Irani Trophy match. They will join Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj as a part of a four man pace attack. Bumrah, who last played for India in the second ODI against England before getting injured, missed the Sri Lanka tour. He played the Asian Games but has been rested for the West Indies tour. Now, he will have a prolonged gap during the white-ball leg of the NZ tour before the two Test matches.
Nitish K Reddy remains the only seam-bowling all-rounder in the squad but he is not a part of the A team that tours New Zealand later this month. The selectors have also picked three spinners — Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar — but it remains to be seen whether there will be space for more than one spinner in New Zealand conditions.
As far as the batting line-up is concerned, the players pick themselves except for Pant. He will miss the first two India A red-ball matches but it is not clear yet whether he will make the cut for the third match of the shadow tour.
Meanwhile, there are no surprises in the ODI set up. Apart from Bumrah being rested, Gill will skip the last two matches to prepare for the Tests along with Rahul and head coach Gautam Gambhir. Shreyas Iyer will lead the side in the last two matches with Ishan Kishan as his deputy. Tilak Varma will feature in the last two matches as well. Kumar Kushagra has earned a call-up for the ODI side and Prasidh Krishna's availability is subject to fitness. Siraj, Reddy and Kuldeep, however, will be with the ODI squad for all five games before linking with the Test squad.
ODI squad for the first 3 matches: Gill [C], Rohit, Kohli, Iyer [VC], Rahul [WK], Reddy, Axar, Dhir, Kamboj, Brar, Gaikwad, Arshdeep, Ishan [WK], Siraj, Prasidh*, Kuldeep.
ODI squad for 4th & 5th: Iyer [C], Rohit, Kohli, Tilak, Ishan [WK, VC], Reddy, Axar, Dhir, Nabi, Brar, Gaikwad, Arshdeep, Kushagra [WK], Siraj, Thakur, Kuldeep.
India’s Test squad: Gill [C], Jaiswal, Rahul [VC], Padikkal, Pant [WK]*, Jurel [WK], Jadeja, Kamboj, Bumrah, Prasidh, Akash Deep, Sai Sudharsan, Reddy, Washington, Kuldeep, Siraj.
*Subject to fitness clearance