Injury-hit New Zealand name Bracewell captain for India ODIs; Jamieson returns

Regular skipper Mitchell Santner has been rested for the ODI series against India starting next month. Santner sustained a groin injury, and Michael Bracewell will take over the reins.

Kyle Jamieson, who was sidelined following a back injury earlier this year, is set to return to action and is a part of both white-ball squads.

Kane Williamson will also miss the ODI series due to his SA20 commitments. Nathan Smith, Blair Tickner, Mark Chapman and Matt Henry are unavailable because of injury, while Tom Latham will miss out as he is expecting the birth of his third child.

Jacob Duffy and Rachin Ravindra have been rested for the ODIs.

Left-arm spinner Jayden Lennox has earned his maiden New Zealand call-up and has been named in the squad alongside relatively fresh names like Kritisan Clarke, Adi Ashok, Josh Clarkson, Nick Kelly and Michael Rae.

New Zealand are set to begin their tour with three ODIs starting January 11 followed by five T20Is starting January 21.

New Zealand ODI squad: Michael Bracewell (C), Adi Ashok, Kristian Clarke, Josh Clarkson, Devon Conway, Zak Foulkes, Mitch Hay, Kyle Jamieson, Nick Kelly, Jayden Lennox, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Glenn Phillips, Michael Rae, Will Young

Santner, Chapman and Henry are expected to return for the subsequent T20I series after recovering from their respective injuries. Bevon Jacobs and Tim Robinson have earned recalls while Will O'Rourke, Blair Tickner and Nathan Smith miss out due to injury.

The T20I series is set to be a valuable opportunity for New Zealand to acclimatize themselves to conditions ahead of the T20 World Cup which will be held in India and Sri Lanka.

"Playing in the sub-continent is obviously very different to what we're used to in New Zealand, so any opportunity we can get to expose our guys to those conditions can only be a good thing, especially prior to a T20 World Cup in the subcontinent," said head coach Rob Walter.

New Zealand are expected to announce their squad for the T20 World Cup in mid-January.

New Zealand T20I squad: Mitchell Santner (c), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Bevon Jacobs, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Robinson, Ish Sodhi