The new selection committee of Indian cricket sat down and choose the squad for the first 3 ODIs against New Zealand. A few players were rested and a few made comebacks to the team. Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were not considered due to injury. The squad has a balanced look to it. Here are the 15 players selected:
Indian ODI Squad: Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Jasprit Bumrah, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav

Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul are both injured and there was considerable speculation as to who would partner Rohit Sharma at the top of the order. In the past, the skipper MS Dhoni has said that Ajinkya Rahane is better suited at the top of the order as opposed to batting in the middle order. However, the selection of Mandeep Singh means that he can open the batting with Rohit Sharma with Virat Kohli batting at his customary number 3 position. Manish Pandey impressed with a whirlwind century against Australia in the last ODI Down Under. However, it will be interesting to see whether he bats at the number 4 position or whether Ajinkya Rahane bats at that position. Dhoni looks set to bat at number 6. Kedar Jadhav is the other batsman in the squad and he scored an unbeaten 105 against Zimbabwe at Harare in July 2015, but unfortunately didn’t get a chance to bat in any of the 3 ODIs against the same opposition in June 2016.

Hardik Pandya is yet to make his debut for India in ODIs even though he has played 16 T20Is. He was preferred for the position of the seam bowling all-rounder. He makes a comeback to the Indian squad and he should use the opportunity to cement his place in the team as he is a brilliant fielder and also capable of explosive batting down the order. Suresh Raina makes a comeback after last playing an ODI for India in October 2015. The Chairman of selectors, MSK Prasad has said that it was just a short term move and that he was selected because of his ability to bowl part-time off-breaks. Raina is a proven performer down the order with his big hitting and his electric fielding is also a bonus.

Since India has a long home season with 10 Tests scheduled to be played after the New Zealand series and they want to maintain their number one ranking in Tests, the selectors have rested the first choice spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja and also pace bowler Mohammed Shami due to the heavy workload ahead of them in the long season. Amit Mishra gets a chance to impress in the ODI format and Axar Patel is likely to be the second spinner in the playing XI as he has the ability to contribute with the bat. Jayant Yadav is the third spinner in the team who is a handy batsman who bowls off-breaks.

The selectors have chosen just 3 pace bowlers in the squad other than Hardik Pandya as they will not play more than 2 pacers in the playing XI. Bumrah has impressed one and all with his consistent performances ever since he made debut in Australia. His ability to bowl yorkers at will means he will definitely lead the pace attack. The other pace bowling slot will be closely contested between Umesh Yadav and Dhawal Kulkarni. Kulkarni bowled well in Zimbabwe in June 2016 and Umesh Yadav can sometimes be a touch expensive, so the former is likely to make the cut.
The squad appears to have all bases covered and should put up a good show in the series against New Zealand.