Mohammed Shami's name was absent from the squads the Board of Control for Cricket in India put forward for both the ODI and Test series against New Zealand, leaving the 36-year-old fast bowler outside the national setup once more.

His most recent appearance for the national side came in the ICC Champions Trophy final against New Zealand — a match India won — in March of the previous year. Nine wickets across five innings at an average of 25.88 made Shami a contributor to India's run to the tournament title.

In the Duleep Trophy 2026, the pacer representing Bengal picked up seven wickets across three outings — averaging 26.57 — as East Zone went on to lift the trophy. Across seven outings for Bengal in the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy, his bowling returned 37 wickets at a cost of 16.72 runs apiece. Across his sole Ranji Trophy appearance of the 2026-27 edition, Shami posted a first-innings haul of four wickets for 30 runs, then added one more for 29 in the second.

Across two IPL campaigns, his right-arm pace bowling yielded a combined 18 wickets from 22 outings — six dismissals across nine appearances for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2025, followed by 12 from 13 games under the Lucknow Super Giants banner in 2026. Consistent outings in domestic cricket built a case for the fast bowler's reintegration into the national setup, with both the ODI and Test formats cited as potential avenues.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who is also 36, received a call-up to India's T20I squad for the series against New Zealand — the fixture scheduled ahead of the ODI and Test legs — a development that added weight to those expectations. Selection to the squad would give Bhuvneshwar his first opportunity to represent India at international level since the T20 World Cup semi-final against England in Adelaide in 2022.

Across 31 outings for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL, he claimed 45 wickets at a bowling average of 22.55, with each over costing 8.52 runs on average. Two IPL championship titles — one claimed in 2025, the other a season later in 2026 — arrived for RCB on the back of his contributions on the field.

Akash Deep, who plays for Bengal alongside Shami, has been included in India's Test squad for the series against New Zealand as he works his way back from an extended spell on the sidelines. His most recent Test appearance came against England at The Oval during August of the previous year. Eight months away from competitive cricket followed after he sustained a lower-back injury.

Kamboj, who made a single Test appearance on India's 2025 tour of England before losing his place in the side, has now been brought back into the national squads.

On Friday, ODI and Test squads for the upcoming New Zealand tour were named by the BCCI. The two-match Test leg kicks off on November 19, following a five-game ODI programme scheduled to run from November 4 through to November 15.

Sixteen players have been named to India's ODI squad for the opening three matches of the series, with Shubman Gill handed the captaincy, Shreyas Iyer assigned the vice-captaincy, and wicketkeeping duties shared between KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan; the full group also includes Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Gurnoor Brar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, and Kuldeep Yadav.

The sixteen-player group named for the fourth and fifth ODIs places Shreyas Iyer in the captaincy role alongside Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan — who holds both the wicketkeeper and vice-captain designations — Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Auqib Nabi, Gurnoor Brar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Arshdeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra as the second wicketkeeper option, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Thakur, and Kuldeep Yadav.

Sixteen players have been named to India's Test squad, with Shubman Gill appointed captain, KL Rahul as vice-captain, and Rishabh Pant listed as wicketkeeper pending a fitness clearance, alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel as the second wicketkeeper, Ravindra Jadeja, Anshul Kamboj, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Sai Sudharsan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mohammed Siraj.