India suffer injury blow ahead of New Zealand series

Rishabh Pant has been ruled out of the three-match ODI series against New Zealand after being diagnosed with a side strain (Oblique Muscle Tear).

The issue came to light when Pant felt a sudden onset discomfort in his right lateral abdominal area while batting in the nets during India’s practice session on Saturday afternoon at the BCA Stadium, Vadodara.

Dhruv Jurel has been named as his replacement by the BCCI.

Pant’s last appearance in an ODI for India came in August 2024 in Sri Lanka. With just 31 ODIs under his belt, Pant has scored a solitary century and has five fifties to his name.

India already have KL Rahul as their first-choice wicketkeeper-batter in the squad, who had also captained the side in skipper Shubman Gill’s absence during their ODI series against South Africa.

Along with Gill, India also have Shreyas Iyer returning from injury into the setup.

India's updated 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, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk).