“I have never seen a more unrecognisable squad than this” - Aakash Chopra on NZ ODI squad for India tour

Aakash Chopra stunned by NZ's "unrecognisable" ODI squad vs India Jan 11 Vadodara: Jamieson leads pace sans Henry-Williamson injuries, Phillips-Bracewell core with Young-Conway openers; experimental XI faces Kohli-Rohit test.

By Jack 11 Jan 2026 in Cricket

New Update

Former Indian cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra has stated that he has never seen a more unrecognisable squad than the current New Zealand ODI squad announced for the India tour.

Notably, India is scheduled to take on New Zealand, led by Michael Bracewell, in the three-match ODI series, starting on Sunday, January 11, at the BCA Stadium in Vadodara. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra stated that the BlackCaps are touring India without the likes of star players.

"I have never seen a more unrecognisable squad than this," Chopra said 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,” he added.

"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 stated.

"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.

On the other hand, India ODI captain Shubman Gill, speaking at the pre-match press conference, highlighted the importance of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the ODI series. Gill lauded Rohit as one of the greatest openers in ODIs and Kohli as one of the greatest batters in ODI cricket.

"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 stated.

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