KL Rahul has been dropped for the India’s upcoming ODI series against New Zealand, the batsman failed to get a single game in the recently concluded 5-match series against Australia, along with Rahul, pacers Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami has also been left out of the side.
In place of them, Shardul Thakur and Dinesh Karthik have been included in the 15 men Indian squad, while opener Shikar Dhawan also comes back into the ODI side after a brief sabbatical which saw him missing the Australia series. Dhawan, however, made a comeback in the T20I series against the Aussies.
The other notable absentees are spin twins Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin, both of whom are playing in the Ranji Trophy. The duo hasn't played for India since the Test series in Sri Lanka two months ago. Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel are the three specialist spinners in their absence. India are scheduled to play three ODIs against the Kiwis — October 22 in Mumbai, October 25 in Pune and October 29 in Kanpur.
Squad:
Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur.