India have brought Bhuvneshwar Kumar back into the fold for the upcoming five-match T20 series against New Zealand. The seasoned pace bowler makes his return to the national squad after delivering a commendable performance in the IPL 2026, where he collected 28 wickets and finished just behind Purple Cap-winner Kagiso Rabada. His last outing for India was in T20s against New Zealand back in November 2022.
At 36 years old, Bhuvneshwar has accumulated experience from 87 T20 international matches, claiming 90 wickets with a bowling average of 23.10 and a tidy economy of 6.96.
Alongside him, Varun Chakravarthy re-enters the team. The spinner has been on the mend following a side strain picked up during India’s T20 series against Afghanistan in September, which unfortunately kept him out of the Asian Games. This was shortly after he had returned from a hamstring injury that plagued the same series.
Meanwhile, India has decided not to include leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who recently participated in the T20 series against the West Indies at home. Additionally, all-rounder Hardik Pandya is sidelined with a shin injury sustained in late September, also ruling him out of India A’s matches against Australia A.
The squad facing New Zealand remains largely unchanged from the one playing against the West Indies. Here’s the list: Shreyas Iyer as captain, with team members Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakravarthy, and Kuldeep Yadav.
This series provides Bhuvneshwar another opportunity to showcase his proficiency on the international stage after his IPL heroics, while Varun aims to reinforce his place post-recovery.
