The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday announced the squad for the upcoming five-match T20I series against New Zealand, beginning October 22. There were no major changes to the squad, and the status quo has been maintained. However, the biggest talking point was the inclusion of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, as the seasoned pacer returned to the Indian squad after nearly four years, with his last appearance coming in the T20 World Cup semi-final loss to England at the Adelaide Oval in November 2022.
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. The seasoned campaigner 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 held on to his spot, 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.
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.
India A squad
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.
The Indian management has already given ample hints that Test players might be withdrawn from the ODI squad to give them the best possible chance of being in good shape for the crucial Tests, which hold the key to India’s qualification for the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
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.
