India have brought in veteran seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar for their five-match Twenty 20 series against the Black Caps in New Zealand later this month.
The 36-year-old medium pacer has not been selected for India since their last tour of New Zealand in late 2022.
Varun Chakravarthy also returns to the squad after recovering from a side strain, leaving fellow leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who is playing in India’s current T20 series against West Indies, out of the squad.
Bhuvneshwar owes his return to the side to his strong IPL performances for champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru this year. He took 28 wickets.
He has twice toured New Zealand, in 2019 and 2022. He took one wicket for 47 over the two T20 matches on the latter tour.
In all, he has played in 87 T20s, taking 90 wickets at an average of 23.1 and with an economy rate of 6.96.
Shreyas Iyer, who will captain the side, hit a century overnight as India beat the West Indies by eight wickets in the first Twenty20 of their five-match series in Lucknow.
New Zealand crowds will miss out of seeing talented allrounder Hardik Pandya, who is not available for the tour because of a shin injury, while fast bowler Harshit Rana is also out injured.
India’s ODI and Test squads are yet to be named.
India squad for New Zealand T20s:
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, Kuldeep Yadav
1st T20, 22 October, 8pm, Hagley Oval, Christchurch
2nd T20, 24 October, 8pm, Hagley Oval, Christchurch
3rd T20, 27 October, 8pm, Hnry Stadium, Wellington
4th T20, 30 October, 8pm, Eden Park, Auckland
5th T20, 1 November, 8pm, Seddon Park, Hamilton