- New Zealand have left out injured pacers Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson from the T20I squad vs India.
- 32-year-old fast bowler Hamish Bennett who is yet to play a T20I, has been recalled.
- The five-match T20I series gets underway in Auckland on 24 January.
New Zealand have announced their 14-member squad for the upcoming five-match T20I series against India in which they have recalled right-arm pacer Hamish Bennett.
With regular pacemen Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson still recovering from injury, Bennett is in line to make his first appearance for the national side since 2017.
The 32-year-old fast bowler has never played a T20I for the Kiwis but was earlier a regular in the ODI squad and also played in the 2011 World Cup.
He has featured in 16 ODIs, picking up 27 wickets at a strike rate of 26.5, but has played only four matches since 2011. Bennett, who has also featured in one Test, last played an ODI in May 2017 against Bangladesh.
His form in domestic cricket over the past few seasons has forced New Zealand's selection committee to call him back to give impetus to the pace attack, which has been weakened by injuries.
“Over the past few seasons he is consistently been one of the top domestic white-ball bowlers and we’ve been impressed how he has been able to evolve his game,” New Zealand selector Gavin Larsen said.
“We all know he brings good pace and bounce but it’s the clever variations he has added that make him such a well-rounded T20 bowler.”
Injuries to Key Players
With Boult and Ferguson still recovering from the injuries suffered during the Test tour of Australia, Bennett will have veteran Tim Southee, Blair Tickner, Scptt Kuggeleijn to partner him in the pace attack while Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner will shoulder the responsibility of the spin department.
New Zealand's fast bowling department has been hit hard by injuries as Matt Henry, Doug Bracewell and Adam Milne have also been sidelined.
Captain Kane Williamson returns to the T20I squad after missing the England series in November with a hip injury, while Tom Bruce has been recalled for the final two games of the series in a swap-out with Colin de Grandhomme.
Jimmy Neesham, who recently injured his quad muscle playing domestic cricket, has been included in New Zealand A's squad for their three one-dayers against India A next week, but not in the T20I squad.
The tour will start with a five-match T20 series starting in Auckland on January 24, followed by three ODIs and two Test matches.
New Zealand T20 Squad
Kane Williamson (captain), Hamish Bennett, Tom Bruce, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Scott Kuggeleijn, Daryl Mitchell, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor, Blair Tickner, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee.
Indian T20 Squad
Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), K.L. Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur
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