"Never Seen A More Unrecognisable Squad": Ex-India Star's Massive Statement On New Zealand's ODI Team

New Zealand have named a rather inexperienced ODI squad to take on India in the upcoming three-match series in January, so much so that former India cricketer and reputed commentator Aakash Chopra has labelled the team "unrecognizable". While India will boast ODI stalwarts like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the Kiwis will line up without several star names like Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra and Mitchell Santner. Six of their playing XI from the Champions Trophy 2025 final against India are not part of the squad. "I have never seen a more unrecognisable squad than this," Chopra said, speaking on his YouTube channel.

"New Zealand combine the fingers to make a fist. That is the kind of philosophy they come in with, but for that, they have good players," he said.

"In this team, they have Henry Nicholls and Will Young. You know both of them. Michael Bracewell is the captain. You know him. You know Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips. You know Devon Conway

"You might have heard Josh Clarkson and Nick Kelly's names for the first time. Then Zak Foulkes, Jayden Lennox and Mitchell Hay. Adithya Ashok, Kristian Clarke, Michael Rae and Kyle Jamieson," he added.

"There are five or six names, about whom if you don't know, it's not a slight that you don't follow cricket. They are all very new names," Chopra concluded.

Meanwhile, India ODI captain Shubman Gill highlighted the importance of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the Indian cricket team.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of the 1st India vs New Zealand ODI of the three-match ODI series, Gill lauded Rohit as one of the greatest openers in ODIs and Kohli as one of the greatest batters in ODI cricket ever.

"Among the two players you have named, one is one of the greatest openers (Rohit) of all time in ODIs, and Virat bhai is one of the greatest ODI batsmen ever. So definitely, having these two people in your team makes your life a lot easier, and whenever you are in a challenging situation, you can go to them for input. Because they have often been in those situations, you can go to them to see how they think or what they would do. That piece of information is very valuable for any captain," Gill said.

With ANI inputs

Topics mentioned in this article

New Zealand Cricket Team India Cricket Team India vs New Zealand 2026 Aakash Chopra Michael Bracewell Cricket