Rishabh Pant, Mohammad Shami

NEW DELHI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Saturday announced the squad for the upcoming three-match One-Day International series against New Zealand, starting January 11 at the BCA Stadium in Vadodara.Shubman Gill has returned as captain after missing the previous ODI series against South Africa due to injury.Shreyas Iyer has been included in the squad and named vice-captain. However, his availability is “subject to fitness clearance from BCCI COE,” the board said in a release.

Despite reports suggesting he could be left out, wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has retained his place in the squad as Ishan Kishan, who has returned to India’s T20 setup, was not included.All-rounder Hardik Pandya has also not been included. Explaining the decision, the BCCI release said, “Hardik Pandya has not been cleared by the BCCI COE to bowl 10 overs in a match, and considering the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to follow, his workload is being managed.”Nitish Kumar Reddy has been named in the squad in Pandya’s place.While pacer Mohammed Siraj is back in the squad, Mohammad Shami couldn’t find a place in the squad despite doing some heavy lifting in the domestic cricket in the last few months, and it is now all but clear that the BCCI has decided to move on from Shami.The first ODI of the series will be played in Vadodara on January 11. The other two matches will be played in Rajkot and Indore on January 14 and 18 respectively.India’s ODI squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Shreyas Iyer (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal