India Tour of New Zealand: Bhuvneshwar Kumar Returns as BCCI Announces T20I, India A Squads

New Delhi, Oct 6: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India squads for the upcoming white- and red-ball tour of New Zealand. The men in blue are scheduled to play 5 T20Is and ODIs along with 2 Tests. Meanwhile, India A will play three Multi-Day matches against New Zealand A. India's 40-day New Zealand tour will begin on October 22, while India A's assignment will begin on October 24.

Interestingly, this tour also marks India's first Test assignment in New Zealand since 2019 and their first white-ball series in the country since 2022. The squad for the ODIs and Test series will be announced later.

The decision was made at a selection meeting on Tuesday at the ACA Stadium in Guwahati, where interim selection committee head Pragyan Ojha, secretary Devajit Saikia and the other selectors finalised the T20I and India A squads.

The biggest highlight has been the return of veteran footballer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who is expected to add his valuable experience to India's white-ball bowling unit. On the green tops of New Zealand, where the ball will experience lateral movement, Kumar's ability to swing the new ball and deliver effectively during the powerplay will make him a dangerous addition to the bowling arsenal.

India Tour of New Zealand: Squad Details

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.

India Tour of New Zealand: Schedule

India vs New Zealand Full Schedule

India A Schedule