Rajkot, January 14, 2026 - India faces a selection dilemma ahead of the second ODI against New Zealand in Rajkot following an injury to all-rounder Washington Sundar. Sundar suffered "acute onset discomfort in his left lower rib area" while bowling in the first ODI in Vadodara and has been ruled out of the remainder of the series. The BCCI has named Ayush Badoni as his replacement in the squad.
The injury to Sundar forces India to make a change to their winning combination from the first ODI, where they defeated New Zealand by four wickets. While Ayush Badoni has been added to the squad as Sundar's replacement, the team management is considering multiple options for the vacant spot in the playing XI.
One option is to directly replace Sundar with Badoni, a 26-year-old batting all-rounder from Delhi. Badoni is uncapped and has received his maiden call-up to the Indian senior team. He is known for his aggressive batting and also bowls some effective off-spin, similar to Sundar. This like-for-like replacement would allow India to maintain the same team structure.
However, another option under consideration is Nitish Kumar Reddy. Reddy is a seam-bowling all-rounder who is already part of the squad. While not a like-for-like replacement for Sundar, Reddy can bat at No. 7 and contribute with a few overs of medium-pace bowling. Some reports suggest that the team management views Reddy as a backup for Hardik Pandya, keeping the 2027 ODI World Cup in mind, and wants to give him more opportunities.
Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif has offered a different perspective, suggesting that India could include an additional fast bowler in the form of Arshdeep Singh and bolster the pace attack. This would mean India going in with four pacers. Kaif believes that Ayush Badoni should be given time to get a feel of international cricket from the sidelines before being thrown into the deep end.
The pitch at Rajkot is known to be good for batting. All four ODIs played at this venue have been won by the team batting first. Considering the conditions, the team management may opt for a batting-heavy line-up.
India's predicted XI could be: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vc), KL Rahul (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, and Arshdeep Singh.
The toss for the second ODI is scheduled for 1:00 PM IST.
