Christchurch: The first T20I of India's New Zealand tour will be played at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Thursday, starting at 12.30 pm IST (8 pm local). It is the opening match of a five-game series between Shreyas Iyer's India and Mitchell Santner's New Zealand.
All eyes are on Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who returns to the T20I setup after nearly four years. He last played a T20I in November 2022. He made his comeback in the fifth T20I against the West Indies in Bengaluru last week, but that match was washed out by rain. His experience will matter in an Indian pace attack without Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya. Varun Chakravarthy is also back after an injury suffered during the home series against Afghanistan.
There is the familiar question of whether 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will get a game. He made his T20I debut in England and played at the Asian Games, but was not given an opportunity in the West Indies series. Iyer indicated the youngster would have to wait, with India set to open with Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma.
New Zealand have injury concerns of their own. Explosive opener Mark Chapman, all-rounder Rachin Ravindra and fast bowler Zak Foulkes will miss the series. Christchurch is expected to be cold and windy on Thursday evening, with temperatures around 15 degrees Celsius and no threat of rain. The rest of the series is on October 24 (Christchurch), 27 (Wellington), 30 (Auckland) and November 1 (Hamilton).
India have played 21 T20Is since IPL 2026 ended, more than any other team, and Iyer said the players were getting less sleep but welcomed more matches. The series opener will be shown on Sony Sports Network and streamed on SonyLIV.