Star India player Shreyas Iyer will make his return to India’s ODI squad as the team’s vice-captain for the upcoming three-match series against New Zealand. His selection, however, is subject to receiving a fitness clearance from the BCCI Centre of Excellence after sustaining a spleen injury while fielding during a match against Australia in Sydney last October as well.

Meanwhile, Shubman Gill himself will return to lead the team after missing the ODI series against South Africa last month due to a neck injury suffered during the Kolkata Test. The return of the duo has seen that Ruturaj Gaikwad and Tilak Varma have been dropped, despite both scoring a century each in the Vijay Hazare Trophy as well. However, Rishabh Pant holds on to his spot in the squad as the second ‘keeper behind KL Rahul, with Dhruv Jurel now dropped.

However, Hardik Pandya has not been added as he is not fit to bowl his full quota of 10 overs yet. With the T20 World Cup starting next month, the selectors decided to manage his workload carefully as well.

Meanwhile, the pace attack will see the return of Mohammed Siraj, with Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, and Harshit Rana are the other ones. The spin department will be led by Kuldeep Yadav, along with all-rounders Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja as well. However, veteran duo – Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who recently featured for their domestic sides in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, will continue to play as well. Nitish Kumar Reddy has also been added to the 15-member squad.

India squad:

Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Shreyas Iyer (vc)*, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal

*Subject to fitness clearance