The BCCI has brought veteran fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar back into India’s T20I squad for the upcoming five-match series against New Zealand, ending his wait of almost four years for another international appearance.
Shreyas Iyer will captain the 16-member squad, with the selectors rewarding Bhuvneshwar for his impressive performances in recent IPL campaigns.
Bhuvneshwar last featured for India during the T20 World Cup semi-final against England at Adelaide in November 2022. The 36-year-old subsequently rebuilt his case through the IPL, taking 45 wickets across the last two seasons for Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Varun Chakaravarthy has also re-entered the squad after recovering from a side strain. The injury forced him to miss action after the opening T20I against Afghanistan last month.
The selectors have omitted Ravi Bishnoi from the latest group. India have also rested premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah.
Bhuvneshwar will consequently miss the Hong Kong Sixes, where he had previously received the captaincy.
The T20I campaign will start in Christchurch on October 22, with the second match taking place at the same venue two days later. Wellington will stage the third game on October 27, followed by Auckland on October 30 and Hamilton on November 1.
The selectors have also picked a 15-member India A squad for three multi-day fixtures against New Zealand A.
India 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.
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