India’s upcoming tour of New Zealand will see a change in leadership during the ODI series, with Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer set to captain the team at different stages.
The BCCI announced two squads for the upcoming five-match ODI series on Friday, October 16. According to the announcement, Shubman Gill will lead India in the first three matches against the Black Caps, while Shreyas Iyer will take charge for the fourth and fifth ODIs. Shreyas Iyer, who captains India in T20Is, has never led the Men in Blue in the 50-over format. He will make his ODI captaincy debut on November 13.
The BCCI has also divided the squads based on players’ availability for different stages of the tour. Four players — Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Anshul Kamboj and Prasidh Krishna — have been selected only for the first three ODIs. Meanwhile, Tilak Varma, Kumar Kushagra, Auqib Nabi and Yash Thakur will be part of the squad for the final two matches.
The decision to announce two separate squads comes as India prepare for the two-match Test series against New Zealand following the first three ODIs. Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Anshul Kamboj and Prasidh Krishna will begin their preparations for the red-ball series after completing their commitments in the initial three matches.
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The first Test is scheduled to begin on November 19. Reports have also suggested that India could play a warm-up match before the Test series to prepare for the longer format.
Meanwhile, 12 players have been retained in India’s ODI squad for all five matches. Among them, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Nitish Kumar Reddy have also been included in the Test squad. Mohammed Siraj and Nitish Kumar Reddy are likely to feature in both Test matches.
Kuldeep Yadav and Nitish Kumar Reddy have also been selected for the five-match T20I series during the tour. With India set to spend 45 days in New Zealand across multiple formats, managing player workloads will be an important challenge for the team management.
It remains to be seen how the Indian team balances its players’ responsibilities across the ODI, Test and T20I series while keeping them fit throughout the lengthy tour.
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