Bhuvneshwar Kumar has returned to India’s T20I squad with BCCI’s senior selection committee naming the 36-year-old fast bowler for the five-match series on the upcoming tour of New Zealand.
Incidentally, Bhuvneshwar’s last India appearance also came in New Zealand in November 2022, right after the T20 World Cup campaign. He has now stormed back into the setup following a pair of very successful IPL campaigns for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. IPL 2026 was particularly fruitful for Bhuvneshwar as he picked 28 wickets at an outstanding economy of 7.95
India’s T20I squad: Shreyas Iyer [c], Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson [wk], Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan [wk], Tilak Varma [vc], Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav
The 16-man squad also sees a return for Varun Chakaravarthy. The 35-year-old mystery spinner has had an injury riddled 2026. He was most recently in action in a T20I against Afghanistan in Delhi, where he suffered a side strain which subsequently ruled him out of the one-off T20I against Japan as well as the subsequent Asian Games. He returns to the squad at the expense of Ravi Bishnoi.
The rest of the T20I squad is similar to the one currently in action against West Indies. Jasprit Bumrah has not been picked for the T20Is presumably with an eye on his workload, with a key two-Test series to come later in the tour.
India’s tour of New Zealand starts on October 22 with the first T20I at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval.
Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar among Test regulars in India ‘A’ squad
Meanwhile, the selectors have named a strong 15-member India ‘A’ squad for the three multi-day contests against New Zealand ‘A’.
As reported by Cricbuzz previously, Bengal pacers Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar have been included in a stacked fast bowling contingent that also includes Auqib Nabi, Anshul Kamboj and left-arm seamer Mukesh Choudhary.
While Akash claimed six wickets in the just-concluded Irani Cup, Mukesh returned an eight-wicket haul in Rest of India’s 167-run win. It is understood that Gautam Gambhir hopes to have the two experienced pacers in his plans for the New Zealand Tests, which are now central to India’s hopes of qualifying for the World Test Championship final next year.
The ‘A’ squad also has several Test regulars including KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel and Manav Suthar. Washington Sundar, who was recently withdrawn from the T20I squad against West Indies has also been named alongside Rishabh Pant, although the latter’s inclusion is subject to fitness clearance.
The three ‘A’ series games will be played from October 27, November 3 and November 10 at Lincoln, Christchurch and Lincoln respectively. The first Test match starts on November 19 at the Basin Reserve in New Zealand.
India ‘A’ squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravichandran Smaran, Rishabh Pant [WK]*, Dhruv Jurel [C] [WK], Washington Sundar, Auqib Nabi, Akash Deep, Anshul Kamboj, Manav Suthar, Mukesh Choudhary, Sai Sudharsan, Yash Rathod, Mukesh Kumar
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