Gill and Iyer Split India's New Zealand ODI Captaincy; Bumrah Picked Only for Tests

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has named separate squads for India's tour of New Zealand, with the five one-day internationals (ODIs) split between two captains. The ODIs run from 4 to 15 November 2026. The squads were announced on 16 October 2026, and the Test squad is led by Shubman Gill, with KL Rahul as vice-captain.

Gill captains the Tests and the first three ODIs, and Iyer takes over for the final two. Jasprit Bumrah is named in the Test squad but not in either ODI squad. The series falls in the run-in to the 2027 ODI World Cup, which a Yahoo Sports report dated 4 October 2026 describes as less than a year away.

Gill Leads the First Three ODIs, Iyer the Last Two

The first three ODIs are on 4, 7 and 10 November, at Auckland, Wellington and Hamilton. Gill captains that block, with Iyer as vice-captain. The squad includes Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Ruturaj Gaikwad.

The last two ODIs are on 13 and 15 November, both at Mount Maunganui. Iyer captains that block, with Ishan Kishan as vice-captain. The squad adds Tilak Varma, Auqib Nabi, Kumar Kushagra and Yash Thakur, none of whom are in the first block. Rahul is not named in the list for the final two matches.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Gurnoor Brar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Kishan, Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav appear in both ODI blocks. Each block names 16 players.

The Test squad is separate. Gill captains it and Rahul is vice-captain. The BCCI schedule lists the first Test on 19 November in Wellington and the second on 27 November in Christchurch.

Reasons Offered for the Split

The BCCI release does not give a reason for the split.

A Zee News explainer sets out three points. The fifth ODI on 15 November is followed by the first Test on 19 November, with just three rest days between them. That leaves Gill little time to adjust to red-ball conditions, and he and Rahul would travel ahead to Wellington for red-ball training.

The explainer also notes that Iyer is not in the Test squad, so giving him the final two ODIs causes no disruption to Test planning. It credits him with a captaincy background that suits those matches.

Those points are not in the announcement itself. The squad lists show who captains each block but do not explain why the captaincy changes midway through the series.

Who Was Picked, Who Was Left Out and Which Players Face Fitness Checks

Mohammed Shami and Hardik Pandya are not in either squad. Cricketwinner reports that Pandya is recovering from a shin injury at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence and has not been cleared for full action. Ravindra Jadeja is left out of the ODI squad but is named in the Test squad.

Kumar Kushagra earns a maiden India call-up as a wicketkeeper for the final two ODIs. Auqib Nabi and Yash Thakur are added to that block, and Naman Dhir keeps his place after an impressive debut series. Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer have also returned to the squads, and Cricketwinner says several players missed the West Indies series because of Asian Games participation.

Two selections depend on fitness. Rishabh Pant's place in the Test squad is subject to fitness clearance, and Prasidh Krishna's selection for the first three ODIs is also subject to fitness clearance.

Bumrah's Place in the Test Attack

Bumrah is named in the Test squad and not in either ODI list. CricTracker reports that team management is managing his workload so that he is fresh for red-ball cricket, and describes him as fully fit with no injury concerns.

A myKhel report says he is expected to play in a third India A fixture beginning on 6 November, before the first Test. It also says he is expected to report to the BCCI Centre of Excellence later in October. The report gives no venue for the India A match and no specific reporting date.

The Test squad names Bumrah with Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Anshul Kamboj and Mohammed Siraj. Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav and Nitish Kumar Reddy are also included, along with Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel and Sai Sudharsan.

CricTracker describes his role in the Test attack as central. Because he is not in either ODI block, the Test series is the only part of this tour for which he is named.

Gill captains the Tests and the first three ODIs, and Iyer takes over for the final two.

The 2027 World Cup Context for the Captaincy

A Yahoo Sports report dated 4 October 2026 says the 2027 ODI World Cup begins in less than a year. Its schedule table lists 11 ODIs before the tournament, five against New Zealand, three against Sri Lanka and three against Zimbabwe, and also lists the Asia Cup without a match count.

Gill's view, as reported in the same piece, is that there is not much time to experiment before the World Cup. He hopes to have all the players available from the next series.

Both ODI blocks name 16 players each, and the Test squad lists 16 named players. The World Cup host and tournament dates are not given in the Yahoo report.

Where the Tour Sits in India's 2026-27 Home Season

The New Zealand Tests run from 19 November, with the second starting on 27 November in Christchurch. India's next home series is against Sri Lanka, from 13 to 27 December 2026. That tour has three ODIs in Delhi, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad and three T20 Internationals in Rajkot, Cuttack and Pune.

Zimbabwe then play three ODIs from 3 to 9 January 2027, in Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy follows, with five Tests against Australia from 21 January to 3 March 2027 at Nagpur, Chennai, Guwahati, Ranchi and Ahmedabad.

The BCCI's home-season listing totals 22 international matches across 17 cities. It starts with the West Indies series, which runs from 27 September to 17 October 2026 and includes three ODIs and five T20 Internationals.

For the tour itself, the sequence is three ODIs under Gill, two under Iyer, then the Tests under Gill, with three rest days between the last ODI and the first Test.