Christchurch [New Zealand], October 21 (ANI): Ahead of the first T20I against New Zealand at Christchurch, Indian skipper Shreyas Iyer expressed excitement over the return of veteran pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, saying that his recent exploits in the Indian Premier League (IPL) are proof of how he can dominate the format. 

The five-match T20I series will be a special one for a lot of cricket fans as the 'Swing King' Bhuvneshwar could be back to bowling in Indian colours for the first time in four years. Before his return to the format was rained out against West Indies at home recently, Bhuvneshwar last bowled for India back in November 2022 at Napier, delivering a wicketless spell of 35 runs in four overs as the match ended in a tie, with India winning the T20I series. 

Since then, Bhuvneshwar has had a resurgence with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL, with his 45 wickets in 31 matches at an average of 22.55 and an economy rate of 8.52 helping the franchise to back-to-back titles in 2025 and 2026. This season in the IPL, Bhuvneshwar was the second-highest wicket-taker with 28 scalps in 16 matches at an average of 17.89, with an economy rate of 7.95. 

Speaking to reporters ahead of the match, Iyer said about Bhuvneshwar's return, 'He brings a lot of experience to the team. And we were lacking that. Especially after IPL. We had a lot of new bowlers. But in T20, if you see his career graph, he has won IPL in the last two years. So, he has a very good idea of dominating this format.'

The 'Swing King' has 90 scalps for India at an average of 23.10 in 87 T20Is and has taken two five-fors and three four-fers in the format. With 10 more wickets, Bhuvneshwar could become the fifth Indian after Arshdeep Singh (145), Jasprit Bumrah (126), Hardik Pandya (114) and Axar Patel (113) to make it a century of T20I wickets. With 294 wickets across all formats, Bhuvneshwar, at 36 years of age, has got a chance to complete 300 international wickets, the 14th overall bowler from India to reach the milestone and the ninth pacer to do so. 

Iyer anticipates a major fast-bowling challenge in New Zealand, pointing out the importance of getting acclimatised as soon as possible. 

'In New Zealand, there's a lot of fast bowling in the squad. It seems like there's more focus on fast bowling. Definitely. If we look at the conditions here, fast bowling suits here. I have been here before, and it is not like the conditions are completely different. In England, the way we played, they had prepared the wickets according to our batting. But on a given day, no one knows how the wicket will be. So, we will try to acclimatise as soon as possible. And once we have a good practice session, every individual will get a fair idea of how to plan,' he said. 

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. (ANI)