MOHALI: India missed the services of a finisher in Delhi and any chance of filling that void with
Suresh Raina in the third ODI against New Zealand got crossed out here on Saturday when the team management confirmed that the left-hander was still recovering from viral fever.
"Suresh Raina is still not available. He is not travelling with the team. It's a 14-member squad for now," the team's media manager told reporters.
Raina, who was brought back to the team for the first three ODIs of the five-match series, missed the games in Dharamsala and Delhi. Though he batted for around 45 minutes in the nets before the second ODI, he was far from match fit to last 100 overs and was thus ruled out.
Before being recalled for this series, Raina last played in the ODIs against South Africa at home in October 2015. He was dropped for the subsequent tours of Australia and Zimbabwe.
With the selectors set to pick the squad for last two ODIs, a replacement for Raina may be announced if he doesn't fully recover.
India failed to chase down New Zealand's 242 in the second ODI and lost the game by six runs, despite a cameo by Hardik Pandya.