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‘We were lacking experience’: Why Bhuvneshwar Kumar made his comeback for India in T20Is

hellohimachalse@gmail.com 21 Oct 2026 1 hour ago

New Delhi: Team India skipper Shreyas Iyer admitted the team was lacking experience in their bowling department as he opened up on Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s return to the T20I setup. Bhuvneshwar has made his comeback to the after 4 years as he was included in India’s squad for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of the 1st T20I between India and New Zealand in Christchurch, Iyer admitted that India had a lot of fresh faces in their bowling attack after the IPL 2026 and missed someone with experience. He backed Bhuvneshwar to fill that gap in the side.

“Bhuvi brings a lot of experience to the team. And we were lacking that, especially after the IPL. We had a lot of new bowlers,” Iyer said at the presser.

Iyer also highlighted Bhuvneshwar’s success in the IPL with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The pacer played a key role in helping RCB win back-to-back titles in IPL 2025 and 2026 with his bowling heroics. Iyer feels Bhuvneshwar has sparked a strong turnaround in his career and can dominate in T20Is.

“But in T20, if you see his career graph, he has won the IPL in each of the last two years. So, he has a very good idea of how to dominate this format,” Iyer added.

Bhuvneshwar has been one of the best bowlers in the IPL over the last two seasons. He has 45 wickets to his name across the last two seasons, helping his team win consecutive titles. He picked up 28 wickets in IPL 2026 to help RCB successfully defend their title.

Can Bhuvneshwar solve India’s bowling woes?

India’s bowling line-up has struggled in the absence of premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah in T20Is. With Bumrah skipping T20Is to manage his workload, the youngsters in the bowling attack have often found it difficult to make an impact.

India’s bowling woes were left exposed in the recently concluded T20I series against West Indies, where the visitors scored over 200 runs in three of the four completed matches. India ended up conceding 879 runs in just 4 games as the five-match series ended 2-2.

The poor bowling performances brought back the focus on the lack of experience in the pace department in Bumrah’s absence. With Bhuvneshwar back in the side, India will be hoping to bounce back and clinch the five-match T20I series against New Zealand.

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