India v New Zealand | Squad for 4th and 5th ODIs announced

10/24/2016

The Indian squad for the fourth and fifth ODIs of the New Zealand series were announced today with no changes from the squad from the first three ODIs. Suresh Raina continues to miss out on his place due to fever, while the confidence from the 3rd ODI has allowed the fringe players an extended run.

The MSK Prasad-led committee of selectors were expected to continue their experiment with new faces that they had initiated two weeks ago when they picked the squad for the first three matches. However, the panel appears to have put that on hold and gone for the same 14-man squad again.

While Suresh Raina appears to have not recovered in time from viral fever, the surprising move has been the choice to not add an opener. Both the openers Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane have failed to impress in the three matches, and Shikhar Dhawan, who was expected to return to his place at the top, has failed to make a comeback into the team.

Squad: MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Mandeep Singh, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Jayant Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Amit Mishra

The other surprise has been the retention of Axar Patel, who has picked only 1 wicket in the 3 matches.