Left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra will replace Praveen Kumar in India's squad for the first One-Day International against New Zealand on Sunday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said on Thursday.
Kumar has been ruled out of the opening match of the five-game series with fever and joins Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan on the sidelines with a number of high-profile players rested or unavailable.
Nehra has played 105 One-Day Internationals for India as well as 17 Test matches, taking 144 wickets in ODI cricket.
In the absence of Dhoni for the first two matches, Gautam Gambhir will lead the side when the series begins on 28th November.
India ODI squad for first ODI: Gautam Gambhir (captain), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Saurabh Tiwary, Murali Vijay, Ranganath Vinay Kumar, Yuvraj Singh
