Santner says Bhuvneshwar will love New Zealand, and he has plans for Sooryavanshi if India pick him
India’s five-match T20I series in New Zealand starts at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Thursday. New Zealand’s captain expects the returning Bhuvneshwar Kumar to enjoy the conditions.
Oct 21, 2026
Bhuvneshwar Kumar last bowled for India in a T20 international in November 2022. He is 36 now, and New Zealand’s captain thinks the first game of his comeback could hardly be in a better place for him.
“I think Bhuvi will love these conditions in New Zealand. If there’s anything in the wicket, he’ll find something out of it,” Mitchell Santner said on the eve of the series opener. “[Even] on some flat ones in India, still manages to nip the ball and swing the ball. So with the new ball out here especially, he’ll be a challenge.”
The first of five T20Is is at Hagley Oval on Thursday 22 October, starting at 8pm local time, which is 12:30pm IST.
Why India picked him
Bhuvneshwar was named in the 16-man squad on 6 October, with Shreyas Iyer as captain and Tilak Varma as his deputy. Iyer was blunt about the reason. “Bhuvi, like you said, brings a lot of experience in the team,” he said. “That was something we lacked, especially after the IPL we had a lot of new bowlers.”
Santner had a dig at Indian pitches while he was at it. Pointing to 250 being chased down during India’s series against West Indies, he asked, “who wants to be a bowler?”, and reckoned Bhuvneshwar “might like it out here a little better.” India drew that series 2-2 after the fifth game in Bengaluru was abandoned for rain with only 7.4 overs bowled.
The Sooryavanshi question
New Zealand have a clearer idea of what is coming at the top of the order. When the sides last met, in the T20 World Cup final in Ahmedabad in March, Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan all made half-centuries, India made 255 and won by 96 runs.
Then there is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who is 15, is in this squad and did not play against West Indies. Santner was careful to say “if” about him, but he had clearly thought about it.
“I’ve seen first-hand how good he is [in] the IPL,” he said. “If he does get a crack this series, we’ve seen what he can do, and guys have found it quite hard to stop him. I know England, in the series away, went quite short and hard at a lot of the Indian batters, but I think we’ve seen in the IPL how aggressive he can be, so we’ve got some plans for him if he happens to play.”
Whether India find room for him alongside Samson and Abhishek is the selection call worth watching on Thursday.
Chapman, Foulkes and Ravindra are out
The hosts are short of a few players. Mark Chapman has a torn left hamstring, Zak Foulkes hurt a hip flexor in training with Canterbury, and Rachin Ravindra is still recovering from the shoulder he hurt landing on a safety mat during a promotional shoot. Josh Clarkson and Blair Tickner came into the squad for Chapman and Foulkes.
What New Zealand still have is plenty of pace. Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Jacob Duffy and Tickner are all in the squad, and Adam Milne is in line for his first T20I in more than a year.
Bigger boundaries, then smaller ones
Santner’s main hope for Thursday is the size of the ground. “There’s slightly bigger boundaries as well, which is more in the bowlers’ favour,” he said, “but again, if it’s flat and it’s not doing a hell of a lot, we’re going to have ways of slowing India down, because we know when it’s flat and small they are very, very good.”
That is a problem saved for later in the series. Santner pointed out that Wellington has short square boundaries and a long straight hit, and that Hamilton and Eden Park are both small. As a left-arm spinner bowling at a line-up full of left-handers, he expects to spend the series bowling for dots and singles rather than big turn. Christchurch, with its bigger boundaries, may be his best chance to set the tone.