Veteran Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar made a remarkable comeback to the Indian team, earning a recall nearly after four years to play for India. Kumar was included in India’s squad for the upcoming five-match T20I series against New Zealand, scheduled to begin on October 22. Ahead of the series, New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner asserted that his side is aware of the challenge that Bhuvneshwar is capable of posing.
"I think Bhuvi will love these conditions in New Zealand. If there's anything in the wicket, he'll find something out of it. You know, especially in 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,” New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner said at the press conference.
Recently, Bhuvneshwar was brought into the squad for the fifth T20I against West Indies in Bengaluru as cover for Arshdeep Singh, and he also made it to the playing XI, however, persistent rain forced the match to be called off.
"I mean in India it's pretty challenging as a bowler these days, like we've seen in the recent series, 250 getting chased down - who wants to be a bowler? - but he might like it out here a little better," Santner said.
Santner also touched upon New Zealand’s plan to counter India’s explosive batting lineup. India's batting firepower was on full display in the recently concluded assignment against West Indies, where each player stepped up to play extremely eventful innings.
"First things first, both teams will need to assess conditions. If there's a little bit in it, it's harder to go extremely hard, but we know India have shown when it's flat and good they're very, very tough to stop. So one thing here, there's slightly bigger boundaries as well, which is I guess more in the bowlers' favour, 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,” Mitchell said.
"If there is something in the pitch for the seamers to start, it's obviously nice, but throughout the series we're going around the country, they're not all going to be green seamers and flying around, so both teams are going to have to adapt quickly to the conditions and then play accordingly," he said.