India captain Shreyas Iyer believes Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s return will add valuable experience to the bowling attack, which appeared inexperienced during the recently concluded five-match T20I series against the West Indies at home.
The veteran pacer is likely to feature in the series opener at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval, where the seam-friendly conditions could suit his bowling style. Addressing the media ahead of the series, Iyer expressed confidence in Bhuvneshwar’s ability to utilise his experience to strengthen the attack and help resolve India’s bowling concerns.
“Bhuvi brings a lot of experience to the side. We were lacking that a bit, especially after the IPL. We had a lot of new bowlers. But if you see his T20 career graph over the last 4 years, he has won the IPL twice, and has a good idea about how to dominate this format,” Shreyas Iyer said during the pre-series press conference.
Shreyas Iyer also admitted that the team management has a tough task on its hands when selecting the playing XI, given the impressive performances of players on the bench. However, he viewed the situation as a “sweet” headache, noting that having several players competing for spots is a challenge every team would welcome.
“So many backups, right? In a way, that is good, and it motivates the current team members to perform consistently for the team. Most importantly, we have to win the match, that is the eventual goal. I want to say that it is a sweet headache, but such a headache is important for every team,” he added.
India T20I Squad vs NZ: 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
