Kolkata : BCCI has announced squad for five-match T20I series against New Zealand, beginning October 22. The biggest headline is return of swing master and seasoned campaigner Bhuvaneshwar Kumar after 4 long years. His last appearance was an event to forget for India as they’re hammered by 10 wickets against England in ICC T20 World Cup 2022 semi final.
Bhuvneshwar has been in remarkable form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) over the last two editions for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), taking 45 wickets across those seasons. His performance was the main reason behind the franchise winning the tournament back-to-back. He was recently appointed as India’s captain for the Hong Kong Sixes, but with his inclusion in the squad for the New Zealand T20Is, the 36-year-old is set to miss the tournament.
The Men in Blue will be led by Shreyas Iyer, while Tilak Varma will serve as his deputy. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi keeps his place, and it would be interesting to see whether the youngster gets a chance in the five-match series. There’s no Jasprit Bumrah in the squad, and it’s no surprise, as the management would want to preserve him for the ODIs and Tests. Varun Chakaravarthy, who sustained an injury during the series against Afghanistan, also regained full fitness and was therefore named in the team for the New Zealand T20Is. India are coming back in T20Is after winning Gold Medal at Asian Games 2026 where they comprehensively defeated Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Semi final and final respectively.
Since Ajit Agarkar’s tenure officially ended, Pragyan Ojha led the meeting in the capacity of the interim chief selector. Interestingly, VVS Laxman, the head of the Centre of Excellence (CoE), also attended the selection meeting. India are slated to face New Zealand in five T20Is, five ODIs and two Tests. However, the selectors are yet to name the team for the other two assignments.
The selection committee also confirmed the India A squad for the three Multi-Day matches against New Zealand A. KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel and Washington Sundar have all been named in the squad as the team management wants these players to have some experience of playing in the Kiwi conditions ahead of the two-Test series.
Pant’s inclusion in the A squad is subject to fitness after the wicketkeeper-batter suffered a bout of fever in the Irani Cup final against Jammu and Kashmir. The first A Test between India A and New Zealand is scheduled to begin on October 4, while the third and final match will get underway on November 7, the same day as the second ODI between India and New Zealand.
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.
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 Sudarsan, Yash Rathod, Mukesh Kumar.
