Iyer highlights Bhuvneshwar’s wealth of experience

Having remained out of the scheme of things for a while now, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the wily old fox, has stormed back into the national setup following a pair of amazing IPL campaigns for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He took 17 wickets in IPL 2025 and backed it up with 28 scalps in 2026, at an economy rate of 7.95, helping the team win back-to-back titles.

“Bhuvi definitely brings a lot of experience to the team,” Iyer said on Wednesday ahead of the opening T20I against New Zealand in Christchurch. “We were lacking that a little, especially after the IPL. We had a lot of new bowlers. But in T20, if you see his career graph, he has won IPL in the last two years, so he has a very good idea about how to dominate this format.”

Iyer believes the resurgence of Bhuvneshwar will keep everyone on their toes. “It’s good in a way and it motivates the current team members that we have to consistently perform for the team,” he said. “The most important thing is to win the match. That is the eventual goal. So, I just want to say that it’s a sweet headache, but it’s important for every team, that kind of headache.”

The skipper also weighed in on the Kiwi climes. “If we look at the conditions here, fast bowling suits the best,” he said. “And I’ve also been here before. It’s not like the conditions are completely different. But when we played in England, they had prepared wickets according to our batting. On a given day, no one knows how the wicket will be, so we’ll try to acclimatise as soon as possible. And if we have a good practice session, then every individual will get a fair idea about how to plan.”