NEW DELHI: India will look to lean on the rich vein of form of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as they begin their three-match ODI series against a revamped New Zealand side in Vadodara on Sunday. With a full-strength squad at their disposal, the hosts will expect the senior duo to set the tone and guide the team's progress in the 50-over format.

While attention is already shifting towards the T20 World Cup, now less than a month away, the spotlight over the next week will firmly be on the ODI series, with Kohli and Rohit expected to dominate the narrative.

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Both batters have enjoyed ample match practice, featuring in a couple of Vijay Hazare Trophy league games each and amassing runs to show they remain very much at the top of their game.

One of the key talking points will be how captain Shubman Gill responds after missing out on selection for the T20 World Cup. Questions over his recent form, along with injuries that sidelined him for much of the South Africa series late last year, have added intrigue to his return.

Gill's comeback is likely to push Yashasvi Jaiswal out of the top order, despite the left-hander scoring his maiden ODI century in the previous series against South Africa. Meanwhile, the return of Shreyas Iyer is expected to bring much-needed stability to the middle order, with the 31-year-old set to reclaim his familiar No. 4 position.

Lower down the order, KL Rahul's continued role as both batter and wicketkeeper appears to have shut the door on Rishabh Pant for now, leaving the latter as the second-choice option in the 50-over setup.

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While Iyer, Pant and Mohammed Siraj were not part of the preparations for the ODI series here in Kotambi until Saturday, Ravindra Jadeja trained at full tilt on Friday, signalling his availability.

Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya are not part of the ODI series to keep them fresh for T20 assignments, leaving the pace-bowling duties to Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna.

Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar and Jadeja will share the spin-bowling responsibilities in a format where evening dew and the flat nature of wickets across the country ensure that the emphasis shifts to containment rather than aggressive wicket-taking.

It will be the first time that the new Baroda Cricket Association Stadium in Kotambi will host a men's international. The venue has previously hosted a women's ODI series between India and the West Indies.

For New Zealand, their loss to India in last year's Champions Trophy final carries little significance, as this series presents an ideal opportunity to test new and second-line players.

Whether they have their preferred players available or not, the Black Caps will stick to the team mantra which worked wonders in their last visit to India in 2024-25 when they hammered India 3-0 in the Test series.

During that tour, several Kiwi players spoke about wanting to “fire the first shot” against India and the team mantra on this trip is "you are where your feet are", something that is meant to keep the players’ minds on the task and not on the challenges around them, given New Zealand are without several of their frontline players and facing India in their backyard.

Mitchell Santner is missing the ODIs due to a groin injury and Tom Latham is back home for the birth of his first child. Former captain Kane Williamson is in South Africa, fulfilling his T20 commitments in the SA20.

Rachin Ravindra and fast bowler Jacob Duffy have been rested, while Matt Henry, returning from calf tear, is focused on returning in the T20I series keeping the World Cup in mind.

Michael Bracewell will lead the side in Santner's absence, who will return for the T20Is, while attention will also be on how the lanky all-rounder Kyle Jamieson and the 23-year-old leg-spinner Adithya Ashok perform.

Jayden Lennox has been brought into the Kiwis' side as a like-for-like replacement for Santner.

Even as they have plenty of new and inexperienced faces in the squad, New Zealand still have a formidable batting strength which includes Devon Conway, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Will Young and even Glenn Phillips.

Teams (from):

India: Shubman Gill (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana.

New Zealand: Michael Bracewell (c), Devon Conway (wk), Mitchell Hay (wk), Nick Kelly, Henry Nicholls, Will Young, Josh Clarkson, Zak Foulkes, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Adithya Ashok, Kristian Clarke, Kyle Jamieson, Jayden Lennox, Michael Rae.

Match starts at 1:30pm IST.

(With PTI Inputs)