Bhuvneshwar Kumar Returns To India Squad After Four Years For New Zealand Tour

Veteran pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar is back in the Indian cricket team after a gap of four years. The Board of Control for Cricket in India named him in the squad for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand. His last match for India was played against the same opponent at McLean Park in Napier. The selection meeting took place on Tuesday at the ACA Stadium in Guwahati. Pragyan Ojha, the interim head of the selection committee, and secretary Devajit Saikia finalised the squads along with other selectors.

Tour Schedule

The tour starts on October 22 and will last for forty days. It is the largest men's bilateral cricket series ever held in New Zealand. The tour includes five T20I matches, five ODI matches, and two Test matches. The T20I games will be played in Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland, and Hamilton. The ODI series begins on November 4. The Test matches are planned for November 19 to 23 in Wellington and November 27 to December 1 in Christchurch. These Test matches are important for ICC World Test Championship final qualification. This will be India's first Test assignment in New Zealand since 2019 and their first white-ball series there since 2022.

Squad Details

The BCCI also named the India A side for three four-day matches against New Zealand A starting on October 24. Dhruv Jurel will lead the India A team. The senior ODI and Test squads will be announced later. The T20I squad includes Shreyas Iyer as captain, Tilak Varma as vice-captain, and players like Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Kuldeep Yadav.

Context

Bilateral cricket tours involve teams playing multiple formats like T20s, ODIs, and Test matches over several weeks in a host country. Selectors regularly review player form and fitness to pick balanced squads for these major international tours. Test matches remain the longest and most traditional format of international cricket governed by the ICC.