Bumrah, Hardik likely to be rested for NZ ODIs

Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah are likely to be rested for the three ODIs versus New Zealand, with the T20 World Cup in mind. Both are expected to return for the five-match T20I series that follows.

The five T20Is are scheduled for:

• January 21 in Nagpur
• January 23 in Raipur
• January 25 in Guwahati
• January 28 in Visakhapatnam
• January 31 in Thiruvananthapuram

These are preceded by the three ODIs on January 11 (Baroda), January 14 (Rajkot), and January 18 (Indore). The ODI squad is expected to be announced around January 4-5.

The team management wants to keep both players fresh for the T20 fixtures. Pandya last played an ODI in the March Champions Trophy final, while Bumrah's last ODI was the 2023 World Cup final.

Domestic Updates:

• Hardik Pandya is expected to play for Baroda in the Vijay Hazare Trophy to comply with BCCI domestic participation rules. He may feature in matches on January 3, 6, or 8 in Rajkot.
• Virat Kohli will return for Delhi's penultimate Vijay Hazare Trophy match on January 6 against Railways in Alur, before joining the ODI squad.
• Rohit Sharma has completed his domestic duties for Mumbai and will next feature in the ODI series.
• Yashasvi Jaiswal is set to join the Mumbai squad shortly and play a couple of games before linking up with the ODI squad in Baroda on January 7.
• Shreyas Iyer, recovering from a spleen injury, may play for Mumbai against Maharashtra on January 3 in Jaipur to test his fitness. His ODI participation remains uncertain.