The big news: The return of Suresh Raina

The new Indian selection panel announced the squad for the first three One Day Internationals against New Zealand on Thursday.

The MSK Prasad-led panel did spring a few surprises though. Suresh Raina returned to the squad led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, while India's spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were rested from the 15-member unit. Mohammed Shami too has been rested. Dhawal Kulkarni returned to the Indian team alongside Punjab batsman Mandeep Singh. Maharashtra batsman Kedar Jadhav was also included in the squad.

The squad: MS Dhoni (c), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Jasprit Bumrah, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav.

Other top stories

  1. Bangladesh face England in the first One Day International at Mirpur on Friday. The three-match ODI series will be Bangladesh's quest for a seventh successive bilateral series win at home. They have been unbeatable for two years and the latest being their win against Afghanistan last week. Bangladesh have lost only three matches out of 20 encounters at home since November 2014.
  2. Pakistan’s Younis Khan has been ruled out of the first Test against West Indies, with doctors advising him 10 days of rest to regain his strength owing to dengue fever. "Younis has informed chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq that he won't able to play the first Test," a PCB spokesperson told ESPNCricinfo. Pakistan will begin their three-match Test series with a day-night Test from October 13 in Dubai. 
  3. Former Zimbabwe fast bowler Heath Streak is the favourite to bag the post of head coach. Zimbabwe have conducted interviews for the post which was left vacant after Dav Whatmore was sacked in June. Heath Streak, Andy Blignaut and South Africa's Peter Kirsten and Justin Summons were interviewed by the Zimbabwe board members on Wednesday. An appointment is expected to be made before the Tests against Sri Lanka later this month.
  4. Zimbabwe Cricket’s annual audit, which was required to be submitted to the International Cricket Council within six months of the financial year-end, is yet to be finalised three months after it was due. In February, the ICC amended its rules to require Full Members to submit an unqualified audit within six months of their financial year-end. Zimbabwe’s financial year runs from January to December and so an audit should have been submitted by the end of June.
  5. The Supreme Court has told the Board of Control for Cricket in India to give an undertaking by Friday that it will "unconditionally" implement all the court-approved recommendations of the Lodha Committee. However, a failure to do could mean that the Supreme Court will pass an order on Friday to replace the board's office bearers with a panel of administrators.