Adithya Ashok's Indian connection and Michael Rae's All Blacks connection

A left-arm fingerspinner, who is also a competent batter down the order, the uncapped Jayden Lennox is a like-for-like swap for Mitchell Santner, who will return to take charge of the white-ball side for the T20Is and then the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. Lennox, 31, has been a "player of interest" for New Zealand over the past few seasons, according to coach Rob Walter. Like Santner, he fronts up to bowl the tough overs in white-ball cricket, including in the powerplay in T20s. After playing his part in Central Stags' run to the Super Smash title last season, Lennox was difficult to put away in the Global Super League in Guyana, coming away with four wickets in three innings at an excellent economy rate of 5.07.

After being around New Zealand's squads across formats during the home summer, seam-bowling allrounder Kristian Clarke is in line for a potential international debut, away from home. A tall bowler who can hit the deck and also give it a whack with the bat lower down the order, Clarke is regarded as an allrounder with a high ceiling in New Zealand cricket. In the first chunk of the one-day Ford Trophy, Clarke clattered his maiden List A century against a Central Districts attack, which included Lennox and Ajaz Patel, and followed it with a three-wicket haul. His family - his parents and his partner - have planned to travel to India for Clarke's potential debut and watch him go up against Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

A legspinner with a sharp googly in his repertoire, Adithya Ashok has been earmarked as Ish Sodhi's successor. Adithya, 23, has already played three white-ball internationals, the last of which came in December 2023. He won his maiden New Zealand contract just before Gary Stead exited as coach, but Walter, the new coach, has preferred the experience of Sodhi. Can Adithya move up the hierarchy in the New Year?

Adithya built up a strong body of work during the winter, emerging as New Zealand A's chief wicket-taker in both four-dayers and List A cricket in Bangladesh and South Africa. Between the two A tours, Adithya visited the Super Kings Academy in Chennai to hone his skills during a spin-centric camp.

Adithya has Indian roots - he was born in Vellore in Tamil Nadu - before his family emigrated to Auckland when he was around four. He also has extended family in Vadodara, the venue for the first ODI.

What's common between All Blacks coach Scott Robertson and Black Caps fast bowler Michael Rae? Well, both share the same nickname: 'Razor'.

A tall fast bowler, who can move the new ball and bang the older one into the pitch, Rae also rocks the headband like Chris Martin did back in the day. When he felt that his time at the top level had passed, Rae was called into the New Zealand Test squad after a litany of injuries. The 30-year-old played two pre-Christmas Tests and drew messages from a number of people, including someone who sold him a Kiwisaver scheme at his parents' house when he was in his teens. Rae's inbox might be flooded with more such messages if he takes out the likes of Kohli and Rohit in India.

A veteran at Wellington Firebirds, Nick Kelly will look to add to his three ODI caps in India. The Melbourne-born Kelly has been a consistent run-getter for Wellington in domestic cricket and also captains them. In his most recent white-ball innings, the left-handed batter clattered an unbeaten 95 off 58 balls in the Super Smash against a Northern Districts attack, which included internationals like Matt Fisher, Tim Pringle and Scott Kuggeleijn.

Kelly also has T20 exposure outside of New Zealand, having featured for St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). In India, he is likely to slot into the top order along with his Wellington team-mate Devon Conway, who has cut short his SA20 stint with Durban's Super Giants, and Will Young.