Gill had missed the South Africa ODI series because of a neck spasm suffered during the Kolkata Test while Iyer is making his return from a spleen injury he picked up during the tour of Australia. While Gill returned to action during the T20Is against South Africa, Iyer has not played any competitive cricket since October 2025.
Siraj last represented India in ODIs during the tour of Australia. He has been a regular member of the Test squad while also turning out for Hyderabad in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Apart from Gill and Iyer, other specialist batters in the squad are Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal. KL Rahul – stand-in captain during the South Africa ODIs – and Rishabh Pant are the two wicketkeeper-batters. Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy are the allrounders while Kuldeep Yadav is the wristspinner. Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh and Siraj form the seam attack.
As for Hardik, the BCCI is managing his workload with one eye on the T20 World Cup starting February 7. The BCCI’s statement said that Hardik has not yet been cleared by the Centre of Excellence to bowl 10 overs in a game.
India ODI squad
Shubman Gill (capt), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Shreyas Iyer (vice-capt)*, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh and Yashasvi Jaiswal (*subject to fitness clearance).
