Rishabh Pant to Join India ODI Squad Late After Vijay Hazare Trophy Duty

The Indian squad is set to meet at Baroda on January 7 for the first ODI, but Rishabh Pant is joining a little later. The wicket-keeper batsman has been given leave to join later because he needs to complete his Vijay Hazare Trophy league engagement with his Delhi squad. The final league game is set to happen on January 8 at Bengaluru.

Pant leads the Delhi side in the home 50-over tournament, and the team is currently atop Group D, having accumulated 20 points from five victories. Six matches have been played, and the only loss has been to the Odisha team. They still have one match remaining in the league phase, which is against the Haryana.

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"He is very much here, and he will play the last game," Sarandeep Singh of the Delhi franchise told Cricbuzz on Tuesday night. Rishabh Pant has aggregated a total of 212 runs in six games with an average of 42.4 and a strike rate of 112.76 with two half-centuries so far.

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Rishabh Pant Wicketkeeper

Rishabh Rajendra Pant is India's dynamic left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman, known for aggressive scoring in all formats, playing for India, Delhi (domestic), and captaining LSG in the IPL since 2025, a comeback hero from a serious accident, holding records like most dismissals in a Test match (11) and most sixes by an Indian keeper, earning Laureus nomination in 2025.

Even though the runs that Pant has aggregated have been important for the team, he has also been leading by example. He has been picked as the second wicketkeeper in the ODI team of KL Rahul and has been doing that ever since the ODI mAlthough the runs Pant has aggregated have been crucial for the team, he has also been setting a strongatches between India and England in February 2025.

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Ishan Kishan Wicketkeeper-Batter

Ishan Kishan is an explosive Indian left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman known for fearless hitting, playing for India, Jharkhand domestically, and most recently, for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL after being their most expensive buy for TATA IPL 2025, with key achievements including captaining India U19, scoring the quickest ODI double-century (210* vs Bangladesh), and winning multiple IPL titles with Mumbai Indians, cementing his status as a power-hitter.

There was quite an aura surrounding Ishan Kishan being preferred ahead of him for the ODI series matches expected between India and New Zealand, but the selectors preferred to keep Pant in the squad due to the rationale that there was no point in his being left out, as he was unable to participate in any one-day match since August 2024. Moreover, his commitment to domestic matches was an element that was considered by the selectors, which is an unusual practice for the vast majority of international cricketers, according to a report provided by CricBuzz on Jan 4.

As is known, Shreyas Iyer will also be late for the team in Baroda. He led his team to victory in Jaipur yesterday in their match against Himachal Pradesh. He will also play in the final match of the league for the team, which is scheduled for January 8.

Iyer is the vice-captain of the team, and the Centre of Excellence is keeping a close eye on his fitness due to his recent surgery for his spleen, which made him unable to play since October 2025. The first ODI is scheduled on the 11th, and the team is going to have net sessions in Baroda from the 8th.

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Minhas ends it in style as Pakistan trump Zimbabwe in the tri-series final win Pakistan U19 team was too good for Zimbabwe to handle in the final of the tri-series, as they wrapped up the game with nine wickets and roughly 34 overs to spare.

by mishaalmubarak January 7, 2026