Bhuvi’s Back: Bhuvneshwar Kumar Finds Place In Team India After 4 Years

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is back in India’s T20I squad for the five-match tour of New Zealand after the BCCI senior selection committee named the 36-year-old fast bowler. India begin the tour on October 22.

Bhuvneshwar’s last India appearance also came in New Zealand in November 2022, soon after the T20 World Cup campaign. That makes the recall a neat full circle.

Bhuvneshwar has forced his way back into the squad after two strong IPL seasons with Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Bhuvneshwar finished IPL 2026 with 28 wickets from 16 games and helped RCB defend their title. He ended the season with an economy rate of 7.95, even as batters dominated on pitches that offered assistance.

He carried that run into the UP T20 League in August and September, taking 14 wickets in 11 matches.

India have kept most of the T20I group unchanged from the West Indies series. Jasprit Bumrah is out of the T20Is, likely to manage his workload before the two-Test series later in the tour.

Varun also returns to the Indian team after he got injured during the Afghanistan series. He was also ruled out of the Asian Games squad.

Additionally, the selection committee announced the India A squad for the three multi-day matches against New Zealand A. Dhruv Jurel has been named captain of the side, while Rishabh Pant's availability remains subject to fitness.

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

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