IND vs NZ ODIs – ‘Men In Blue’ Square Off Against Kiwis In 3-Match Series At Home

Indian team’s cricketing assignment for 2026 will be flagged off with a 3-match ODI series against New Zealand that commences with the first match at Vadodara on Jan 11. 

The ODI series forms part of New Zealand's white-ball tour to India, featuring 5 T20Is in the build up to the T20 World Cup.

The IND vs NZ ODI series opener will be played at the Vadodara International Cricket Stadium on 11th Jan followed by games at Rajkot on 14th and Indore on 18th Jan. All the games are Day / Night encounters with a 1:30 pm (IST) scheduled start.

India had defeated New Zealand in the grand finale of the 2025 Champions Trophy at Dubai and won the marquee ICC tournament after a gap of 12 long years.

IND vs NZ - Head To Head

ODIs Played In India

The ‘Men In Blue’ enjoy an overwhelming dominance over the Kiwis at home, winning 31 out of 40 ODI encounters played between the teams. 

India’s dominance is stamped by the fact that they have never lost a bilateral ODI series to New Zealand on home turf. India had blanked the Kiwis (3-0) in the last series played in 2023.

ODI Rankings

'Men In Blue' are  ranked No. 1 in the ODI cricket, while the  ‘Black Caps’ occupy the 2nd spot behind Team India in the ICC ODI rankings 

Recent ODI Form

Champions Trophy champions India head into the NZ series on the back of winning an ODI series against South Africa (2-1) at home. 

New Zealand are in fine form in the 50-over format, inflicting whitewashes on England (3-0) and  West Indies (3-0) at home 

Major Squad Updates

India will be bolstered by the return of their captain Shubman Gill and vice captain Shreyas Iyer while pace spearhead  Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya have been rested factoring work load management and keeping in mind the T20 World Cup. 

Rishabh Pant was preferred to Ishan Kishan as the 2nd wicket-keeper to KL Rahul. Seamer Mohammad Siraj makes a return to the 50-over unit.

New Zealand will be without the services of quite a few of their ODI mainstays; including Kane Williamson, Tom Latham, Matt Henry and Mitchell Santner.In Santner’s absence, all-rounder Michael Bracewell leads the Kiwis. 

The Kiwis have given an opportunity to promising youngsters and handed maiden call-ups to a  few uncapped players. Jayden Lennox, Aditya Ashok, Kristian Clarke and Josh Clarkson will look forward to making a mark on their maiden tour to  India.

Squads

India

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

*Shreyas Iyer’s availability is subject to fitness clearance from BCCI COE.

New Zealand

Michael Bracewell (c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitch Hay (wk), Zak FoulkesAditya Ashok, Kristian Clarke, Josh Clarkson, Kyle Jamieson, Nick Kelly, Jayden Lennox, Michael Rae

Read more: Virat Kohli becomes fastest batter to score 28,000 runs in international cricket