New Zealand has announced their 14-member squad for the five-match ODI series against India, which begins on January 23. Led by Kane Williamson, the Blackcaps have brought in Mitchell Santner, Tom Latham and Colin de Grandhomme as new entrants.
The all-rounder, who spent the majority of last season on the sidelines with a serious knee injury, made his only return to international cricket in a one-off T20I against Sri Lanka last week. Santner last appeared in an ODI against England in March last year.
Coach Gray Stead said that the team's main priorities are on preparing a World Cup squad and a team capable of winning a series against India.
"Our two main priorities have been to select and prepare a squad capable of winning what is shaping as a massive series against India, and gathering as much information as possible ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup in England and Wales", said Stead.
Jimmy Neesham and Tim Seifert are the two players who are out from the squad which mauled Sri Lanka 3-0 as the former suffered a grade one hamstring strain in the third ODI against Sri Lanka and will miss the first three ODIs against India, with a future place down to fitness.
Santner makes a return after 10 long months after recovering from knee surgery. However, he did feature in a T20 match against Sri Lanka last Friday.
We have many players who are talented and well "Tom and Colin who are experienced players in this format and will offer quality in their respective roles, and Mitch and Doug showed us what they are capable of during the T20 on Friday night."
The five-match series gets underway from January 23 with the first ODI being held in Napier. The Men in Blue are currently playing Australia in a three-match series which is levelled at 1-1 at the moment, with the third and final ODI set to be played in Melbourne.
