Bhuvneshwar Kumar is back in India’s T20I squad. The Men’s Selection Committee named him on October 6 in a 16-man group for the five-match series in New Zealand, which starts in Christchurch on October 22. He is 36. The last time he played for India was a T20I against New Zealand in Napier on November 22, 2022, and Olympics.com notes he has not represented the national team in any format since.

Shreyas Iyer captains the side, with Tilak Varma as vice-captain. Iyer comes off a hundred in the opening T20I against West Indies, and the batting group is largely the one already in place: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, whose claim to a place we weighed before the Ranchi T20I. The surprise sits in the bowling list.

The squad and the schedule

The BCCI’s media advisory lists the T20I squad as Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav. The T20I fixtures are:

• 1st T20I: Thursday, October 22, Christchurch
• 2nd T20I: Saturday, October 24, Christchurch
• 3rd T20I: Tuesday, October 27, Wellington
• 4th T20I: Friday, October 30, Auckland
• 5th T20I: Sunday, November 1, Hamilton

India A, captained by Dhruv Jurel, play three multi-day matches against New Zealand A at Lincoln and Christchurch between October 24 and November 10. That squad includes Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, the last subject to fitness. The advisory says the ODI and Test squads will be announced later.

New Zealand have changes of their own. Mark Chapman has a left hamstring tear and Zakary Foulkes an injured right hip flexor, so Sportstar reports that Josh Clarkson and Blair Tickner come in. Mitchell Santner leads a group that still contains Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry and Kyle Jamieson.

What Bhuvneshwar brings

The raw record is long. Per Olympics.com, he has played 87 T20Is for India and taken 90 wickets at an average of 23.10 and an economy rate of 6.96. His best figures in the format are 5/4, and he has two five-wicket hauls. Across all formats he has played 229 matches and taken 294 wickets.

• Tests: 63 wickets
• ODIs: 141 wickets
• T20Is: 90 wickets
• Last T20I: November 22, 2022, against New Zealand

His Wikipedia entry records that he made his India debut in December 2012 against Pakistan, and that he is the first Indian bowler to take a five-wicket haul in Tests, ODIs and T20Is. His last Test was in January 2018 and his last ODI in January 2022, both against South Africa. He has not played for India in any format since that Napier T20I.

Two IPL seasons that forced the issue

This recall follows his IPL form. The Telegraph says the move had been building since Royal Challengers Bengaluru defended their IPL title in May. Bhuvneshwar took 28 wickets in 16 matches in 2026, one fewer than Purple Cap winner Kagiso Rabada, according to the paper.

Circle of Cricket adds the other half: 17 wickets in 2025 and 28 in 2026, 45 across two seasons, with RCB winning the title both times. RCB had bought him for ₹10.75 crore at the November 2024 auction, a price recorded on his Wikipedia page, which also notes he was the first bowler to win the IPL Purple Cap in consecutive seasons.

Sitanshu Kotak, India’s assistant coach, was asked about the pick in Ranchi, where India play West Indies. “The young bowlers are good; they are performing well and getting selected, but at some stage you also need some experience,” he said, as quoted by Circle of Cricket. He added that he was not a selector and was giving his own reading of the decision.

A selection panel that changed direction

The timing matters. Ajit Agarkar took over as chief selector in July 2023, and The Times of India reports his term ended on October 4 and that he did not seek an extension. During it, India reached the 2023 ODI World Cup final and won the 2024 T20 World Cup, the 2025 Champions Trophy and the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Pragyan Ojha is interim chairman, with Shiv Sundar Das, Ajay Ratra and RP Singh on the panel, and he chaired the meeting that picked the New Zealand squads. The BCCI opened applications for the vacant seat on October 6, and Mint reports they close at 5:00 PM IST on October 14. Board secretary Devajit Saikia said, per the Times of India, that VVS Laxman, who heads the Centre of Excellence, will attend all future senior selection meetings.

The Telegraph’s Indranil Majumdar reads the Bhuvneshwar call as a break with the past. He writes that Ojha’s panel was forced “to make a drastic U-turn on the policies which guided Indian cricket for the last three years”, and that Bhuvneshwar and Mohammed Shami “were sidelined from the white-ball format for a rigid youth-first policy”. That is the Telegraph’s interpretation. The BCCI’s advisory gives no reasons for any selection.

The bowling problem behind the call

Jasprit Bumrah is not in the T20I squad. Without him, the Telegraph argues, the attack has been thin, pointing to the third ODI against West Indies on October 3. Shai Hope made an unbeaten 162 and West Indies chased 352 with 10 balls to spare, their highest successful chase in men’s ODIs, according to the ICC.

India still won that series 2-1. But the Indian Express match report describes a bowling unit that “left more questions unanswered in a botched defence”. Debutant Anshul Kamboj, called in as Prasidh Krishna’s replacement, went for 41 in five overs.

Against that background, the T20I pace group is Arshdeep Singh, Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav, with Shivam Dube and Nitish Kumar Reddy as seam-bowling all-rounders. Bhuvneshwar adds the swing he built his career on. The Telegraph says he has found an extra yard of pace as well. Bhuvneshwar himself told Jatin Sapru’s YouTube channel: “My body is ready. I’ve a physio and trainer at home. At this moment, I’m ready. I’m training, but not keeping the 50-over World Cup on mind, but because I want to.”

Shami waits, and the squads still to come

The same Telegraph piece says Shami is “not completely off the selectors’ radar”, though a call-up for New Zealand is uncertain. He has not played for India since the Champions Trophy final in March 2025. He took 24 wickets in seven matches at the 2023 World Cup. Asked about him, Kotak said: “If the selectors feel that he is doing well and the team has a requirement, then any player can be selected.”

Shami has been drafted into Bengal’s Ranji Trophy opener against Delhi at Kalyani, starting Sunday, October 11. The Telegraph reports talk that selector RP Singh may travel to watch him.

The ODI and Test squads come next. The Times of India reports they are likely to be announced next week, after selectors watch the India A series against Australia A. The first of five ODIs is on November 4 in Auckland. The tour also includes two Tests. For more on where the team stands, see our India cricket and cricket coverage.

The dates that decide the rest: applications for the open selector’s seat close on October 14, and the first T20I in Christchurch on October 22 is the earliest Bhuvneshwar could play for India again.

Sources: BCCI, Olympics.com, The Telegraph (India), Circle of Cricket (PTI), The Times of India, Mint, ICC, The Indian Express, Sportstar, Wikipedia.

Featured image: Bhuvneshwar Kumar in his delivery run-up during the 2013 Champions Trophy group stage match against South Africa. Photo: Dee03 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.