Veteran Indian fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been added to the T20I squad for the series against New Zealand. Accidentally, Kumar’s last appearance in the Indian colors came in 2022 in the T20I series against the Kiwis.
The veteran seamer bagged 28 wickets in 16 matches of IPL 2026 and had played an instrumental role in taking Royal Challengers Bengaluru to glory. The swing master has performed consistently in the recent past and also scalped 14 wickets in 11 matches while leading Lucknow Falcons in UP T20 League 2026.
Varun Chakravarthy also returns to the squad. The mystery spinner was ruled out of the last two T20Is against Afghanistan due to a side strain injury and he replaces Ravi Bishnoi in the squad. Naman Dhir retains his place in the squad whereas Jasprit Bumrah has been rested.
India’s tour of New Zealand starts on October 22 with the first T20I at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval.
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
Meanwhile, Bengal pacers Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar have been included in India’s A squad, which also includes Auqib Nabi, Anshul Kamboj and left-arm seamer Mukesh Choudhary. Ravichandran Smaran has been rewarded for his consistent performances in the Ranji Trophy as he top-scored with 950 runs in nine games for Karnataka in the previous season.
Rishabh Pant’s selection is subject to fitness clearance.
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
