Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma Take Centre Stage As India Eye Winning Start To New Zealand ODIs

Vadodara : Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s prime form is expected to drive India’s progress in ODIs as the full-strength hosts take on a new-look New Zealand in the first match of the three-match series here on Sunday.
Even as focus remains on the T20 World Cup which is less than a month away, Kohli and Rohit will hog the limelight in the three ODIs over the next seven days.
There has been no dearth of game-time for the two superstars who played a couple of matches each in the Vijay Hazare Trophy’s league round, piling up big runs to underline that they are not going away anytime soon.
But it remains to be seen how India captain Shubman Gill responds after being axed from the T20 World Cup side, with his form being a concern apart from the injuries that kept him out of the majority of the series against South Africa late last year.
Gill’s return, however, is likely to take Yashasvi Jaiswal out of the top order where he scored his maiden ODI ton in the last match against South Africa.
The return of Shreyas Iyer should end a largely unsuccessful run of experiments in the batting order, with the 31-year-old set to claim his No 4 spot back.
KL Rahul’s continued role as a lower-order batter and wicketkeeper is set to keep Rishabh Pant out of the XI, with the latter remaining second choice in the 50-overs format.
While Iyer, Pant and Mohammed Siraj were not part of the preparations for the ODI series here in Kotambi until Saturday, Ravindra Jadeja trained at full tilt on Friday, signalling his availability.
Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya are not part of the ODI series to keep them fresh for T20 assignments, leaving the pace-bowling duties to Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna.
Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar and Jadeja will share the spin-bowling responsibilities in a format where evening dew and the flat nature of wickets across the country ensure that the emphasis shifts to containment rather than aggressive wicket-taking.
It will be the first time that the new Baroda Cricket Association Stadium in Kotambi will host a men’s international. The venue has previously hosted a women’s ODI series between India and the West Indies.
For New Zealand, their loss to India in last year’s Champions Trophy final carries little significance, as this series presents an ideal opportunity to test new and second-line players.
Whether they have their preferred players available or not, the Black Caps will stick to the team mantra which worked wonders in their last visit to India in 2024-25 when they hammered India 3-0 in the Test series.
During that tour, several Kiwi players spoke about wanting to “fire the first shot” against India and the team mantra on this trip is “you are where your feet are”, something that is meant to keep the players’ minds on the task and not on the challenges around them, given New Zealand are without several of their frontline players and facing India in their backyard.
Mitchell Santner is missing the ODIs due to a groin injury and Tom Latham is back home for the birth of his first child. Former captain Kane Williamson is in South Africa, fulfilling his T20 commitments in the SA20.
Rachin Ravindra and fast bowler Jacob Duffy have been rested, while Matt Henry, returning from calf tear, is focused on returning in the T20I series keeping the World Cup in mind.
Michael Bracewell will lead the side in Santner’s absence, who will return for the T20Is, while attention will also be on how the lanky all-rounder Kyle Jamieson and the 23-year-old leg-spinner Adithya Ashok perform.
Jayden Lennox has been brought into the Kiwis’ side as a like-for-like replacement for Santner.
Even as they have plenty of new and inexperienced faces in the squad, New Zealand still have a formidable batting strength which includes Devon Conway, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Will Young and even Glenn Phillips.
Teams (from): India: Shubman Gill (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana.
New Zealand: Michael Bracewell (c), Devon Conway (wk), Mitchell Hay (wk), Nick Kelly, Henry Nicholls, Will Young, Josh Clarkson, Zak Foulkes, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Adithya Ashok, Kristian Clarke, Kyle Jamieson, Jayden Lennox, Michael Rae. (Agencies)