Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s return to India’s T20I squad after nearly four years will be one of the talking points of the forthcoming tour of New Zealand, starting October 22.

The 36-year-old last represented India in November 2022. His recall — rewarded for his performances in Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s back-to-back IPL triumphs — comes as the four-member selection panel, in the presence of BCCI Centre of Excellence head of cricket V.V.S. Laxman, sought to balance immediate T20I requirements with the demands of a long multi-format New Zealand tour.

India will play five T20Is, beginning in Christchurch on October 22, with Shreyas Iyer continuing as captain and Tilak Varma as his deputy.

The selectors have simultaneously kept an eye on the longer formats. Washington Sundar, who was withdrawn from the ongoing T20I series against the West Indies, will instead play three First Class matches for India-A in New Zealand.

Rishabh Pant has also been included in the India-A squad, subject to fitness. The wicketkeeper-batter, who batted well down the order in the second innings of the Irani Cup, has been asked to play the multi-day fixtures as part of his return to full fitness.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, K.L. Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal and B. Sai Sudharsan headline the India-A batting group while Dhruv Jurel has been named captain.

R. Smaran and Yash Rathod have been persisted with for their impressive run with the willow. Akash Deep, who returned to competitive cricket after seven months during the Irani Cup tie, has been included in the India-A squad along with Mukesh Kumar, Mukesh Choudhary and Anshul Kamboj.

The BCCI said the squads for the ODI and Test series would be announced later.

The squads: T20Is: Shreyas Iyer (Capt.), Tilak Varma (Vice-capt.), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan (wk), Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Kuldeep Yadav.

The fixtures: Oct. 22 and 24 (Christchurch), Oct. 27 (Wellington), Oct. 30 (Auckland), Nov. 1 (Hamilton).

India-A: Dhruv Jurel (Capt. & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, K.L. Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, R. Smaran, Rishabh Pant* (wk), Washington Sundar, Auqib Nabi, Akash Deep, Anshul Kamboj, Manav Suthar, Mukesh Choudhary, B. Sai Sudharsan, Yash Rathod, and Mukesh Kumar.

The dates: Oct. 24 to 27 (Lincoln); Oct. 31 to Nov. 3 (Christchurch), Nov. 7 to 10 (Lincoln).