Young domestic star Kumar Kushagra has been selected for the Indian squad for the ODI series against New ZealandScroll down to read the full story.
Published: October 17, 2026, 4:14 PM IST
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Who is Kumar Kushagra? (Image – X)
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has already announced the squad for the New Zealand tour, where the Men in Blue will face the Blackcaps in five ODIs and two Tests.
In the ODI series, the Indian side will be lead by two different captainsStar player Shubman Gill will lead the Indian team for the first three ODIs and the rest of the two matches will be captained by Shreyas Iyer against New Zealand.
Read more:
Rishabh Pant doubtful for NZ Tests as Akash Deep, Sai Sudharsan make comeback in Shubman Gill’s side
India’s ODI squad for the first three ODIs: Shubman Gill [C], Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer [VC], KL Rahul [WK], Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Gurnoor Brar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Kishan [WK], Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna*, Kuldeep Yadav
India’s ODI squad for fourth and fifth ODIs: Shreyas Iyer [C], Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan [WK, VC], Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Auqib Nabi, Gurnoor Brar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Arshdeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra [WK], Mohammed Siraj, Yash Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav
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#TeamIndia’s ODI and Test squads for New Zealand tour announced
Captain Shubman Gill will lead the side for the first 3️⃣ ODIs, before Shreyas Iyer takes charge for the last 2️⃣ matches.
More details ▶️ https://t.co/npwxUYlb1N
#NZvIND https://t.co/3ckm7ixgEN
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 16, 2026
For this series, the Indian management made a big decision by giving a chance to a young talent who is known for his impressive performances and dominance in domestic cricketHis name is Kumar Kushagra.
Kumar Kushagra is known as a right-handed wicketkeeper-batterIn domestic cricket, he plays for Jharkhand and in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Gujarat Titans (GT)After showcasing his brilliance in domestic cricket and IPL, this young star got a chance to be featured in the Team India for the ODI series against New Zealand.
Speaking about more of his life, Kumar Kushagra was born on October 23, 2004The young star has played 38 first-class matches, where he scored 2,507 runs at an average of above 42Talking about his specialties, he is known for his crucial batting performance in the middle-order.
The time when he became a part of talks in the cricket worldKumar Kushagra had showcased a brilliant batting performance in 2022, where he scored 266 against Nagaland in the Ranji Trophy pre-quarterfinalAt the age of 17, he became the youngest star to score 250 in first-class cricketMeanwhile, in 2023, he scored 227 runs at 56.75 while batting at No7.
After his impressive knocks in domestic cricket, some franchises bought him for good money in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024Capitals bought him for Rs 7.2 croreBut, he couldn’t showcase his magic for Delhi as he only managed to score 3 runs in four appearances and was released.
In the next season, he was signed by Gujrat Titans for Rs65 lakh, and they retained him for 2026, where he made his debut for them on April 4 against Rajasthan Royals.
