Their three match ODI series with New Zealand will start on January 11. BCCI has also not declared the squad yet, but speculations over the wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant being left out of the team have been reported.
Pant had been included in the team of the recent ODI series at South Africa but failed to play at least one game. This has cast his roles in the new ODI set up into doubt. It turns out that the head coach Gautam Gambhir and the team management are not entirely convinced in the role of Pant in the one-day format at this point.
Media reports show that the New Zealand series could see the selection of Ishan Kishan, rather than Pant, by the selection committee headed by Ajit Agarkar. Kishan is performing very well in the domestic cricket. During the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he made a headline when he made a century in 33 balls playing at the sixth position.
Ishan Kishan has proved himself to be a worthy opener and middle-order batter in the domestic tournaments. He won the Jharkhand the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025 in the role of captain and scored over 500 runs as an opener. He earned his spots in the T20 World Cup 2026 squad of India because of his good performances and now may pull a slot in the ODI team.
In case Pant is not retained in the ODI team, it would represent a tremendous disadvantage to him. In 2021, he turned into a national hero following the legendary Test victory of India in the Gabba in Australia. In the past few years, Pant has performed superbly in Test cricket, and he is guaranteed a spot in the team in this format.
Pant has also represented India in 49 Tests scoring more than 3,400 runs at an average of almost 43 with eight centuries. But his performance in the limited-overs form of the game has not been so good. He has 871 outs in 31 ODIs with an average of approximately 33. Since they have the one-day format, he has not been able to relax after his serious car accident.
His T20I statistics are also cause of concern. Pant has been playing T20 internationals 76 times and has made 1,209 runs with a strike rate of slightly above 127. He has already been dropped out of T20 team and in case he fails to get ODIs also, he could only be regarded as a specialist in Test.
The verdict will be made when the squad is officially released, but the New Zealand series may be a critical point in the career of Rishabh Pant.
