India Announce ODI and Test Squads for New Zealand Tour Under Shubman Gill: Kamboj and Kishan Rise, Questions for Jadeja and Jaiswal

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced India's ODI and Test squads for the upcoming tour of New Zealand, bringing a set of decisions that reveal the board's priorities for Indian cricket. The loudest message: despite an ODI World Cup less than a year away, red-ball cricket is being prioritised. Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Prasidh Krishna and Anshul Kamboj have been released from the ODI squad after the first three matches to prepare for the two-Test series, which begins only four days after the fifth ODI. For the first three ODIs, Shubman Gill captains, with Shreyas Iyer as vice-captain. The squad includes Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Gurnoor Brar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Kishan (wk), Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Yadav. For the fourth and fifth ODIs, Shreyas Iyer takes over the captaincy, with Ishan Kishan as vice-captain. Tilak Varma, Auqib Nabi, Kumar Kushagra (wk) and Yash Thakur join that group. The Test squad is led by Shubman Gill, with KL Rahul as vice-captain. It includes Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Rishabh Pant (wk, subject to fitness clearance), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Anshul Kamboj, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Sai Sudharsan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj. The biggest winner is Anshul Kamboj. Rewarded for his consistency in domestic cricket and for India A, he finds a place in both the ODI and Test squads. On the 2026 England tour with the A team, he was fast-tracked to the Test squad and handed a debut after Arshdeep Singh's injury. His ODI debut came in similar circumstances: he was withdrawn from India A's four-day game against Australia A to play the third ODI against West Indies after Prasidh Krishna's injury. With a question mark over Prasidh's fitness, Kamboj could well play the first three ODIs. The second winner is Ishan Kishan, whose return story is remarkable. Until very recently, he was not part of India's ODI plans. The Afghanistan series in June marked his first appearance in the format since the 2026 World Cup, where he grabbed the opportunity with a rapid hundred in Lucknow. Four months later, he has been named vice-captain for the fourth and fifth ODIs against New Zealand. In that period he has played and performed across formats, including a double hundred in the Duleep Trophy final as captain. Already among the first names in the T20I squad, Kishan's promotion signals he could become a regular in ODIs too. Naman Dhir's rise has also been rapid. Within a month of his international debut, he has pushed his way into World Cup conversations, though that remains a long shot. He has featured in every match since his call-up. A batting all-rounder who bowls handy off-spin, he is the archetype of a Gautam Gambhir player. He is likely in the squad as an alternative to Washington Sundar, with the ability to bat in the lower order and bowl five to six overs of finger spin. Kumar Kushagra, the 21-year-old wicketkeeper-batter from Jharkhand, has received his maiden international call-up for the last two ODIs, with Rahul stepping out for Test preparations. Kushagra will already be in New Zealand with India A, having been called up to their squad for the three unofficial Test series against New Zealand A as Pant's replacement. After a stellar Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last year, he struck a century in the Duleep Trophy final for East Zone and a ton for India A in the unofficial Test against Australia A in Puducherry. A debut is unlikely, though, with his state captain Ishan Kishan ahead in the wicketkeeping pecking order. The first name among the losers is Yashasvi Jaiswal. Even with Gill and Rahul absent from the last two ODIs, Jaiswal could not find a spot in the 50-over squad. Though he is part of the India A squad for the three four-dayers against New Zealand A, the southpaw has done nothing wrong to be excluded from potential top-order options. He has two hundreds in his last three ODIs, including one in his last 50-over fixture against Afghanistan in June. Clearly, the management is prioritising the Test series over white-ball games. Ravindra Jadeja's ODI career could potentially be over. Naman Dhir's emergence, coupled with his own waning powers in the white-ball game, has seen the veteran all-rounder lose his ODI spot. Jadeja has picked up just two wickets in five ODIs this year at 135, and it is unlikely India will take him to South Africa next year. In Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Dhir, India have three spin-bowling all-round options ahead of Jadeja in the pecking order. Manav Suthar's omission is curious. He was named in the India A squad for the New Zealand tour but, strangely, was not picked in the senior Test squad. This could be because India already have Jadeja, Washington and Kuldeep Yadav as spin-bowling options for conditions that would not be as conducive to spin as the subcontinent. Gambhir also prefers batting depth over bowling strength, and this could be where Washington trumped Suthar. The left-arm spinner has had a brilliant start to international cricket, taking 23 wickets in three Tests at 17.34, including a six-wicket haul in his debut game. He also enjoyed a strong County Championship season with Warwickshire, taking 27 wickets in six matches at 19.92. The selection pattern sends a clear message. A generational shift in Indian cricket has begun. The slow end of the Rohit-Kohli era is under way, and a new framework around Gill, Iyer and Kishan is being built. Jadeja's slide down the spin-all-rounder pecking order and Dhir's rise show that the management is looking forward. At the same time, Jaiswal's exclusion shows that performance is not always enough—format priorities matter just as much. The emphasis on Test cricket, despite WTC final qualification looking unlikely, is a sign of long-term investment. The results of the New Zealand tour will reveal how right these decisions are. What is clear is that India's selection philosophy has changed. The question now is whether this new approach can deliver stability before the World Cup, or whether over-reliance on youth will exact a price in the future.