India have named a 16-player squad for their five-match T20I series in New Zealand, running from October 22 to November 1, with the headline inclusion being the recall of Bhuvneshwar Kumar to the T20I set-up after nearly four years away. Shreyas Iyer continues as captain, with Tilak Varma his deputy, for a tour that follows directly on from India's ongoing home series against West Indies.
The 36-year-old seamer earned his recall on the back of a strong IPL 2026 campaign, in which he took 28 wickets in 16 games to finish as the second-highest wicket-taker as Royal Challengers Bengaluru defended their title. Reports around the announcement linked the call-up to India's bowling combinations during the recent tour of England, with Jasprit Bumrah unavailable for long stretches and several younger bowlers in the mix, as a factor behind bringing back a seamer of Bhuvneshwar's experience.
India's touring party reads: 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 and Kuldeep Yadav. Legspinner Ravi Bishnoi, part of the squad for the home series against West Indies, misses out on the New Zealand trip, while Chakaravarthy returns after recovering from a side strain that kept him out of the Japan T20I, the Asian Games and the West Indies series.
Bumrah is not part of the T20I squad, with his workload reportedly being managed ahead of a two-Test series later in the same tour. His limited availability across formats this year has been a recurring theme behind several bowling call-ups, Bhuvneshwar's included.
Alongside the senior squad, an India A group led by Dhruv Jurel has been named for unofficial multi-day matches against New Zealand A, featuring Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar and Devdutt Padikkal. Rishabh Pant's involvement is subject to fitness after he was troubled by fever during the recently concluded Irani Cup.
New Zealand have already named their own squad for the series, with the five T20Is to be followed by a five-match ODI series from November 4 to 15 and a two-Test series starting November 19.
More international squad news is available on SportGod's blog, with fantasy team-building tools on SportGod's free games once the tour gets under way.
Squad details and selection context in this article are verified against same-day and freshly re-checked reporting, current as of October 9, 2026; the squad was originally announced on October 6, 2026.
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