India Vs New Zealand 1st ODI: Spotlight On Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma As Series Begins in Vadodara
India will take on New Zealand in the first of three ODIs in Vadodara on Sunday. The other two matches will be in Rajkot and Indore.
The spotlight will be on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma when India take on New Zealand in the first of the three ODIs to be played in Vadodara on Sunday.
Kohli and Rohit have been in excellent form in the 50-over format recently and the two will look to carry that form in the upcoming series as well.
Kohli hit two hundreds in the ODI series against South Africa last month and backed them with two fifties and a century in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Rohit, on his part, notched two fifties against the Proteas and blasted a quickfire ton in his first match in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
A cause of concern for India is the form of Shubman Gill. The Indian ODI captain had a wretched outing in the five-match T20I series against South Africa which eventually led to his ouster from the squad for the T20 World Cup 2026. Gill then turned out for Punjab in the Vijay Hazare Trophy against Goa but managed just 11 runs.
Shreyas Iyer has been declared fit for the series and that comes as a major boost to the Indian team. Iyer, India's ODI vice captain, is making a comeback to international cricket after he suffered a spleen injury while playing in Australia last Oct.
Also marking his ODI return in the upcoming series is Mohammed Siraj. The pacer's previous ODI outing was in Australia last Oct. But to keep himself ready for international cricket the 31-year-old has been grinding his teeth in domestic cricket picking 14 wickets across Syed Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare Trophy tournaments.
Siraj will be leading India's pace attack as Jasprit Bumrah has not been included in the ODI squad. Bumrah will be back in action later this month for the T20I series against the same opponents.
New Zealand will be without their regular skipper Mitchell Santer. The all-rounder is nursing an injury and in his absence the team will be led by Michael Bracewell. Kane Williamson, Tom Latham and Rachin Ravindra are other key players missing from New Zealand's squad.
The Blackcaps' squad consists of fresh faces in Jayden Lennox, Adithya Ashok, Kristian Clarke and Michael Rae, all of whom are touring India for the first time.
Possible Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh.
New Zealand: Devon Conway, Will Young, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell (c), Mitch Hay, Josh Clarkson, Kyle Jamieson, Adi Ashok, Michael Rae.
India Vs New Zealand Head-To-Head (Last 5 ODIs)
India have won all of their last five ODI matches against New Zealand, including the ICC Champions Trophy final played in Dubai in March 2025.
Form Guide (last 5 ODI matches)
India: W-L-W-W-L
New Zealand: W-W-W-W-W
Match Timings And Streaming Details
Match gets underway at 1.30 p.m. IST. It will be streamed on the JioHotstar app and broadcast on the Star Sports Channels.
