Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan questioned ODI and Test captain Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir after the management benched fast bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy in the first ODI against New Zealand at BCA Stadium, Kotambi, Vadodara.
Irfan Pathan on Nitish Reddy's exclusion
Irfan questioned how Nitish would improve if all he did was bowl in the nets and never face the music in tough positions.
“If you don’t play him, you can’t groom him as an all-rounder. He gets picked, travels with the team, but doesn’t feature in the XI. There must be some reason why he isn’t getting picked,” Irfan said on JioHotstar.
Nitish Kumar Reddy's ODI career
Reddy, who made his ODI debut in Australia during the three-match ODI series on October 9, 2025, has played two ODIs so far, where he managed to score 27 runs. After getting maiden ODI call-up in the Australia series, the fast-bowling all-rounder missed his spot from India's ODI squad against South Africa.
IND vs NZ 1st ODI
Coming back to the first ODI, India captain Shubman Gill won the toss and opted to bowl first, and the Men in Blue featured with six bowlers in their playing XI, with Gill saying he wants to "try different combinations and see how that works".
Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja have been included as spin-bowling options, while Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna are the pacers. NZ skipper Michael Bracewell said Kristian Clarke will be making his ODI debut.
IND vs NZ Playing XIs:
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
New Zealand Playing XI: Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Hay(w), Michael Bracewell(c), Zakary Foulkes, Kristian Clarke, Kyle Jamieson, Adithya Ashok