There is a strong possibility that either Vaibhav Sooryavanshi or Abhishek Sharma could make their ODI debuts for India during their tour of New Zealand, which starts next month. India are travelling to New Zealand for a full-fledged multi-format tour, comprising of five T20Is, five ODIs and two Tests. While the T20Is start on October 22, the ODI series starts on November 4. The Tests will start on November 19.
While the Indian T20I squad against New Zealand has already been announced, the BCCI are yet to announce the ODI and Test squads. However, there is a delay in the ODI and Test squads announcement as BCCI is awaiting fitness reports of certain players like Harshit Rana, Rishabh Pant and , according to a TOI report.
Another aspect for BCCI’s delay in announcement is the selectors are looking at options to replace some of the players in the ODI squad for the last two games of the series, who will prepare for the Tests. According to a PTI report, T20I skipper Shreyas Iyer might lead in the last two ODIs against New Zealand in place of , who will prepare for Tests.
Along with Shubman, the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, , Mohammed Siraj and Nitish Kumar Reddy are some of the players who will be moving ahead for the Test series preparation.
While Shubman bats at no.3 in Tests, the Indian captain opens the batting in ODIs along with Rohit Sharma. With Shubman leaving the ODI squad after the third game to prepare for the Test series, there remains a void as to who will open the batting in the final two 50-over games.
Yashasvi Jaiswal had opened the batting for India earlier against Afghanistan in ODIs, but with the left-hander being the first-choice opener in Tests, there is strong possibility that the Mumbai cricketer be only selected for the Test series. Ishan Kishan is an option to open the innings, but he is likely to take KL Rahul’s spot in the middle order.
Instead of trying a new opener altogether, it would be viable for the BCCI to pick one of three three openers from the T20I side for the last two ODIs. Sanju Samson, who is being preferred over for the last two T20I series, is the other name. Neither Sooryavanshi nor Abhishek have played any ODIs for India and New Zealand could see one of two the two making their debuts in the 50-over format.
Sooryavanshi has so far played only eight T20Is, scoring 246 runs with a career-best of 81. As far as Abhishek is concerned, he is a veteran of 65 T20Is for India, scoring 2036 runs with three hundreds. His career-best of 135 runs came against England at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
There is a strong possibility that the BCCI may announce the ODI squad for New Zealand around October 25. Based on the TOI report, the BCCI is taking a cautious approach on the players recovering from injuries. Krishna, who was ruled out after the second ODI against West Indies on October 1, has been given three weeks of recovery time at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE).
Meanwhile, India pacer Harshit, who has been at the CoE for quite some time now, is being closely monitored and is expected to undergo a return-to-play match simulation on October 25. The Indian team for the ODI series is expected to fly out on October 28 for New Zealand.
