Bhuvneshwar, the 36-year-old medium-pacer, has played 87 T20Is, returning 90 wickets at a bowling average of 23.10 and economy rate of 6.96.

In IPL 2026, Bhuvneshwar picked up 28 scalps in 16 matches, and was only one behind Purple Cap-winner Kagiso Rabada. Four of those came in the knockout games against Gujarat Titans – two each in Qualifier 1 and the final. In the 2025 season, Bhuvneshwar had taken 17 wickets.

Bhuvneshwar is also the only player to win the Purple Cap two seasons in a row.

If he does play in New Zealand, Bhuvneshwar will become the third-oldest specialist bowler to play for India in a men’s international, behind Ashish Nehra – who played his last game for India at the age of 38 years and 186 days – and Shute Banerjee, whose only Test came at the age of 37 years and 124 days.

Varun had just returned from a hamstring injury during the home T20I series against Afghanistan but picked up a side strain in the first match.

Legspinner Ravi Bishnoi, who was part of India’s squad for the ongoing home T20Is against West Indies, has not been picked for the New Zealand tour.

Hardik Pandya wasn’t available after he suffered a fresh shin injury in late September, which also ruled him out of India A’s one-dayers against Australia A. Harshit Rana is also still unavailable after an injury picked up in rehab in early September.

The rest of the squad is the same as the one facing West Indies.

India squad for New Zealand T20Is

Shreyas Iyer (capt.), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav