India T20I Squad For New Zealand Recalls Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is back in the India T20I squad for New Zealand, four years after his last appearance in the format. The BCCI named the 16-man India T20I squad for New Zealand on Tuesday, alongside a 15-man India A party for three four-day matches on the same tour. Shreyas Iyer captains the T20I side with Tilak Varma as his deputy. Dhruv Jurel leads India A.

Bhuvneshwar’s four-year wait

Bhuvneshwar last played a T20I in November 2022. That match was also against New Zealand. He is now 36. The recall puts him back into a bowling group that has turned over since. Counting him, the squad carries six frontline bowling options.

Varun Chakaravarthy also returns. He had been out injured, having been ruled out of India’s Asian Games campaign. Naman Dhir keeps his place after taking three for 31 on T20I debut against West Indies in Lucknow on Tuesday. Hardik Pandya stays out. He was ruled out in late September with a stress response in his right tibia.

The 16 for the T20Is

Sixteen players were named for five matches. Two of them keep wicket. The squad in full, as released by the BCCI:

• Shreyas Iyer (captain)
• Tilak Varma (vice-captain)
• Abhishek Sharma
• Sanju Samson
• Ishan Kishan
• Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
• Axar Patel
• Shivam Dube
• Nitish Kumar Reddy
• Naman Dhir
• Arshdeep Singh
• Bhuvneshwar Kumar
• Mayank Yadav
• Prince Yadav
• Varun Chakaravarthy
• Kuldeep Yadav

Jurel leads a Test-leaning A squad

Jurel captains India A and keeps wicket. Rishabh Pant is named subject to fitness clearance. KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal are in the batting group. Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar, Anshul Kamboj, Auqib Nabi and Mukesh Choudhary make up the seam attack. Manav Suthar is the specialist spinner alongside Washington Sundar. Two wicketkeepers are named. Jurel is the other, and he has the captaincy as well, so Pant’s fitness clearance decides whether India A travel with a second gloveman or one.

• Dhruv Jurel (captain, wicketkeeper)
• Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper, subject to fitness)
• Yashasvi Jaiswal
• KL Rahul
• Devdutt Padikkal
• Sai Sudharsan
• Ravichandran Smaran
• Yash Rathod
• Washington Sundar
• Manav Suthar
• Auqib Nabi
• Akash Deep
• Anshul Kamboj
• Mukesh Choudhary
• Mukesh Kumar

Five T20Is across four New Zealand grounds

The T20Is start at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on 22 October. The second is at the same ground two days later. Wellington follows on 27 October, Eden Park on 30 October and Seddon Park in Hamilton on 1 November.

India A play at Lincoln from 24 to 27 October. Christchurch comes next, from 31 October to 3 November, and then Lincoln again from 7 to 10 November. The two tours overlap for more than a week. Both squads are in the country at once, and the A fixtures run on nine days after the T20Is finish.