Why did Ishan Kishan not get a chance in the team? (PC-GETTY IMAGES)

Team India has been selected for the ODI series against New Zealand. Captain Shubman Gill has returned fit. Shreyas Iyer has also returned. Interestingly, Ishan Kishan did not return to the ODI team, in his place Rishabh Pant has been retained in the team as the second wicketkeeper. After the excellent innings of Ishan Kishan, there were reports that he was going to make a comeback in the ODI team but Pant was kept over him and the reason for this was Ajit Agarkar and captain Shubman Gill.

Gill-Agarkar supported Pant

According to the report of revsportz, Ajit Agarkar and his selection committee did not want to drop Pant without giving him a chance. Shubhman Gill also supported his name. According to the report, Gill also spoke in favor of Pant and the captain and the selection committee were in complete agreement that Pant should be retained as KL Rahul's backup in ODIs.

Ishan Kishan is close to comeback

However, Ishan Kishan has also been discussed in the selectors' meeting. The selectors are keeping an eye on him. Let us tell you that the Jharkhand captain started this season of Vijay Hazare Trophy with a stormy century against Karnataka. After this he did not play a few matches and made a comeback against Kerala on Saturday and scored 21 runs. The interesting thing is that Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan are good friends and in the selection meeting, they supported Pant instead of being friends, which is commendable. However, the fans are very angry with Ishan Kishan not being selected.

Rishabh Pant getting back in the ODI set up is a shocker. What on earth selectors are thinking at the moment is simply beyond me.

They have taken a step in the reverse direction with this move. Ishan Kishan was scoring runs for fun, was in form, was bound to get a chance but pic.twitter.com/NasUSn1fPN

— Akshat (@Akshatgoel1408) January 3, 2026

India's ODI team: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh and Yashasvi Jaiswal.