Team India touched down in Christchurch on Tuesday, October 20, to begin one of the longest tours New Zealand has ever hosted. The Shreyas Iyer-led T20I side opens a five-match series at Hagley Oval on Thursday, October 22, the first leg of a six-week trip that also includes five ODIs and two Tests.
New Zealand Cricket welcomed the visitors with a short post on X – "India have arrived in Ōtautahi", the Māori name for Christchurch – while arrival photos showed head coach Gautam Gambhir, bowling coach Morne Morkel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Varun Chakaravarthy, Naman Dhir and teenager Vaibhav Sooryavanshi among the group.
A tour that stretches from October to December
India will play 12 international matches between October 22 and December 1. The white-ball leg comes first: five T20Is through to November 1, then five ODIs between November 4 and 15. The two Tests follow, with the series wrapping up in Christchurch in the first days of December.
The captaincy is split across formats. Shreyas Iyer leads the T20I team and will also take charge for the last two ODIs, while Shubman Gill captains the side in the first three ODIs and in the Test matches. For fans back home, the timings are kind for the shortest format – every T20I starts at 12:30 PM IST, which means the games wrap up by late afternoon in India.
India vs New Zealand T20I series schedule
| Match | Date, venue and time (IST) |
|---|---|
| 1st T20I | Thursday, October 22 – Hagley Oval, Christchurch – 12:30 PM |
| 2nd T20I | Saturday, October 24 – Hagley Oval, Christchurch – 12:30 PM |
| 3rd T20I | Tuesday, October 27 – Wellington – 12:30 PM |
| 4th T20I | Friday, October 30 – Eden Park, Auckland – 12:30 PM |
| 5th T20I | Sunday, November 1 – Seddon Park, Hamilton – 12:30 PM |
| ODI series | Five matches, November 4 to November 15 |
| Test series | Two matches, ending December 1 in Christchurch |
India's T20I squad: Bhuvneshwar is back
The 16-member squad was announced on October 6 and is largely the group that has just finished the home series against the West Indies. The headline name is Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The veteran swing bowler last played a T20I for India in November 2022, and his recall for conditions that traditionally help the new ball is a clear signal of what the selectors expect in New Zealand.
India squad: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan (wk), Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav.
Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi missed out on a place, and Washington Sundar, who had earlier been withdrawn from the West Indies squad, is also not part of the group.
Batting depth at the top
India travel with an embarrassment of riches at the top of the order. Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi can all open, and Iyer himself has been in the form of his life – he recently climbed into the top four of the ICC T20I batting rankings alongside Kishan and Abhishek. Picking the right combination on the bouncier New Zealand pitches will be the first big call for Iyer and Gambhir.
The bowling puzzle
With Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar, Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav, India have genuine pace options, and all-rounders Shivam Dube and Nitish Kumar Reddy offer extra seam. The spin department – Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy and Axar Patel – may get fewer overs than at home, but on the smaller grounds such as Eden Park, their wicket-taking ability in the middle overs could still decide games.
New Zealand's T20I squad
Mitchell Santner leads a strong home side that mixes power-hitters and a deep pace attack: Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Zak Foulkes, Matt Henry, Bevon Jacobs, Kyle Jamieson, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert and Nathan Smith. The tall seamers – Jamieson, Ferguson and Henry – are likely to test India's young top order with bounce early on.
What it means for Indian fans
This tour carries weight well beyond the T20Is. The ODIs form part of India's build-up to the 2027 ODI World Cup, while the two Tests are important for India's World Test Championship campaign. For the T20I group, it is a chance to prove that the fearless brand of cricket that has worked at home can travel. Winning a bilateral series in New Zealand has never been easy, and the five-match format means a single bad day will not decide things – consistency will.
The team gets one more day to adjust to the time difference and the cool spring weather in Christchurch before the opening game. Expect India to name a settled XI on Thursday, with the main questions being whether Bhuvneshwar plays straight away and how many specialist spinners the team management backs in Hagley Oval's typically seam-friendly conditions.
What happens next
After the first two games in Christchurch on October 22 and 24, the series moves to Wellington, Auckland and Hamilton. The ODI and Test squads for the rest of the tour are expected to join in phases, with Shubman Gill taking over the captaincy once the 50-over leg begins on November 4.
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