India captain Shubman Gill, speaking ahead of the first ODI at Auckland, said he would have preferred the five-match ODI series to be placed before the T20Is on the New Zealand tour, provided all players were available. Instead, the tour runs in the opposite order, with the ODIs sandwiched between the T20Is and the two Test matches that follow.

The schedule for India's New Zealand assignment has five T20Is, which wrapped up on November 1, followed by five ODIs from November 4 to 15, and then two Tests. Because the Tests sit immediately after the ODIs, the team management has had to protect certain players from the white-ball workload, with key Test specialists held back from the fourth and fifth ODIs.

"Both [the ODI and Test series] are very important. If it was in my hands and all the players were fit, I would have liked to have all the players who we are looking at playing during the World Cup [for the full ODI series], but the two Test matches are also very important," Gill was quoted as saying by Cricinfo.

Jasprit Bumrah is the most prominent name absent from all five ODIs, rested entirely with the Test series in focus. Gill acknowledged the weight of both commitments on the tour and the reasoning behind the squad decisions that have followed from the tight turnaround.

Because the ODIs currently fall after the T20Is and directly before the Tests, the management cannot field its complete World Cup-focused group across all five matches without risking player fitness ahead of the Test assignment. A reversed format order would have removed that conflict entirely, allowing the full ODI squad to feature throughout.

"If it had been one-day first, then T20, and then Test, we could have played all five [ODI] matches [with our strongest squad], but [we couldn't do this] because the gap between the one-day [series] and Test matches was very small," Gill added.

Why did Gill want the ODI series scheduled earlier?

Gill's preference is rooted in India's preparations for two major events: the ODI World Cup, set for October-November 2027, and the World Test Championship final, scheduled for June 2027. With both tournaments approaching, India want their full-strength ODI group to play together as often as possible, and a five-match series is a significant opportunity for that.

What is the captaincy split for the ODI series?

Gill leads India in the first three ODIs of the series, after which Shreyas Iyer takes charge for the final two one-dayers. The split reflects the broader squad management approach across the tour, where different players carry responsibility at different stages to balance workload and preparation ahead of the Tests.

Bumrah, despite his absence from the ODIs, remains central to India's Test plans and his workload is being managed carefully to ensure he is ready for the two-match series that closes the tour. The team management has made clear that neither the ODI nor the Test leg of the tour is being treated as secondary, with selections shaped by the demands of the full schedule rather than a preference for one format over another.