India's all-format tour of New Zealand starts today with the first T20I in Christchurch. Also today: Bhuvneshwar Kumar's return, South Africa one day from levelling with Australia, and the Ranji Trophy round-two results.
1. India v New Zealand: T20I series starts in Christchurch
Shreyas Iyer leads India in the first of five T20Is. Five ODIs and two Tests follow. The last two meetings went India's way: a 96-run win in the T20 World Cup final at Ahmedabad in March, and a 4–1 home series win in January, which ended with 271/5 at Thiruvananthapuram. Iyer has 1,479 T20I runs at a strike rate of 137.83.
2. Bhuvneshwar and Varun back in the attack
Bhuvneshwar Kumar returns for his first T20I since the tied match at Napier on 22 November 2022. He has 90 wickets at an economy of 6.96. Varun Chakaravarthy, fit again, has 75 wickets at an average of 17.34. Arshdeep Singh has the squad's most T20I wickets, 140. Jasprit Bumrah is saved for the Tests and Hardik Pandya is injured. The captain said teenage opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will have to wait because the current openers keep scoring. See men's T20I most wickets.
3. South Africa push for a series-levelling win at Gqeberha
Marco Jansen ran through Australia's first innings at St George's Park, and South Africa enforced the follow-on. Australia go into day five still behind, with Travis Head unbeaten. Australia won the first Test by 214 runs, so a South Africa win today would level the series. Jansen's Test profile.
4. Ranji Trophy round two wraps up
On the final day, Punjab beat Chhattisgarh in New Chandigarh after a long rearguard by Ayush Pandey. Mumbai beat Himachal Pradesh, Kerala beat Odisha and Hyderabad beat Andhra. Delhi v Gujarat and Karnataka v Saurashtra were drawn. Earlier in the round, Bengal beat Services by 60 runs in New Delhi.
5. India's U19 women open their title defence against West Indies
The fixtures for the next U19 Women's T20 World Cup, in Bangladesh and Nepal in January and February, are out. The defending champions, India, open against West Indies in Kathmandu, in a group with Nepal and Ireland.
Context: India's long wait for a Test win in New Zealand
The tour ends with two Tests, in Wellington and Christchurch. India's last Test win in New Zealand was the 10-wicket win at Hamilton in March 2009. Since then they have played six Tests there: three draws and three defeats, the latest at Christchurch in 2020. Among the top-order contenders, Devdutt Padikkal has 418 Test runs at 69.66 from 6 innings and Sai Sudharsan has 383 at 31.91 from 12.
Read the previous note
Yesterday's note: Mandhana, Harmanpreet, Shafali ODI stats before Zimbabwe.
The figures behind the infographic
| Statistic | Arshdeep Singh | Axar Patel | Kuldeep Yadav | Bhuvneshwar Kumar | Varun Chakaravarthy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T20Is | 94 | 105 | 54 | 87 | 49 |
| Wickets | 140 | 105 | 95 | 90 | 75 |
| Bowling average | 19.77 | 22.53 | 13.74 | 23.10 | 17.34 |
| Economy | 8.51 | 7.49 | 6.95 | 6.96 | 7.58 |
| Best bowling | 5/51 | 3/9 | 5/17 | 5/4 | 5/17 |
| Five-wicket hauls | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Compare two international careers · Arshdeep Singh profile · Axar Patel profile · Kuldeep Yadav profile · Bhuvneshwar Kumar profile · Varun Chakaravarthy profile · Create your own visual
News items come from the day's cricket coverage. Scores and margins appear only when two reports agree or a report matches Crickrida's match archive; single-report items are stated without figures. Career figures come from Crickrida's career snapshot checked 30 September 2026. Match results come from Crickrida's international match archive. Bowling average = runs conceded ÷ wickets; economy = runs conceded per six legal balls.