Bhuvneshwar Kumar returns to India T20I squad after four-year gap

New Delhi: Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has made a comeback to the Indian T20I team after four years, having played his last international match in New Zealand in November 2022.The selectors named the 36-year-old while picking a second-string pace attack for the five-match series in New Zealand starting October 22.Bhuvneshwar has led the Royal Challengers Bengaluru pace attack in their two back-to-back IPL-winning campaigns over the last two seasons.The four selectors and Centre of Excellence (CoE) head VVS Laxman met in Guwahati on Tuesday to pick the T20I and India ‘A’ teams while holding back the ODI and Test teams for the same tour.TOI has learnt that the selectors want to preserve their first-choice pacers for the longer formats with next year’s World Cup and the ongoing World Test Championship in mind.The other pacers picked for the T20I series are Arshdeep Singh, Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav, with Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shivam Dube being the seam-bowling allrounders.Ravi Bishnoi has been dropped, while Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy have been given the spin duties.Selectors wait for Hardik, Prasidh’s fitness statusThe selectors are waiting to get clear fitness status on Hardik Pandya and Prasidh Krishna before announcing the ODI and Test teams.Sources said Hardik was ruled out for at least four weeks as per the fitness report shared by the CoE on September 23.Krishna, too, walked off with a hamstring injury during the second ODI against the West Indies in Guwahati on September 30.In a boost to the seam-bowling attack, Akash Deep has been picked for the ‘A’ team and is expected to be an integral part of the Test team.Pant in ‘A’ teamTest batters KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel, Devdutt Padikkal and Washington Sundar have been picked for the India ‘A’ team, which is scheduled to play three first-class matches before the two Tests starting on November 19.Jurel is named the captain of the team.Pant, who had requested game time in New Zealand, has been picked subject to fitness after he suffered a back spasm during the Irani Cup last week. He is also recovering from a viral illness and could take another 10 days before he starts training.Interestingly, ODI regulars Rahul, Jaiswal and Washington may have to juggle formats as the ‘A’ series overlaps with the ODI series, which starts on November 4. That means the trio may play the first ‘A’ game on October 24 before joining the ODI team.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.Stay updated with the latest Asian Games 2026 news, check the Asian Games medal tally and complete Asian Games schedule.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.