'Bhuvi will love these conditions in New Zealand' - Mitchell Santner

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is back playing for India after a gap of nearly four years, and his oppositions are worried. In the five-match T20I series that begins on Thursday in Christchurch, New Zealand are undoubtedly wary of the threat he could present.

"I think Bhuvi will love these conditions in New Zealand. On the eve of the series opener, New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner stated, "He'll find something out of the wicket if there's anything in it." "It still manages to nip the ball and swing it, even on some flat ones in India. He'll be a challenge, especially with the new ball out here.

"I mean, as a bowler these days, it's pretty difficult in India, as we saw in the recent series against West Indies, where 250 runs were chased down - who wants to be a bowler? - but he might like it out here a little better,"

Shreyas Iyer, the captain of India, thought that Bhuvneshwar's return to the T20I team would help his team because it would add experience to their pace department.

"Bhuvi, like you said, brings a lot of experience in the team," Iyer said. "That was something we lacked, especially after the IPL we had a lot of new bowlers. If you look at Bhuvi's career graph over the past two years, you can see that he has also won the IPL, so he knows how to dominate this format very well."

New Zealand are aware of India's batting threat too. The last meeting between these sides was the final of the T20 World Cup in March, when blistering half-centuries from the top three of Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan powered India to a total of 255, and eventually a 96-run win. Apart from these three India also have the precocious brilliance of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to call on.

Santner stated, "Obviously he [Sooryavanshi] did not play in India's last series against West Indies," but "I've seen firsthand how good he is [in the IPL]." "I think it's one of those things where we know how good he is, and then the guys who are playing are also doing very well. The power at the top that India have, Sanju and Abhishek have done really well.

"I think he has a huge part to play for India, whether it's this series or not, but in the future. We've seen what he can do, and guys have found it difficult to stop him if he does get a chance this season. I know England, in the series away, went quite short and hard at a lot of the Indian batters, but I think we've seen in the IPL how aggressive he can be, so we've got some plans for him if he happens to play."

Santner expects a range of conditions to be in play across the five T20Is, and highlighted how dangerous India can be on flatter pitches. He hoped the large outfield at Hagley Oval would give the bowlers some respite on Thursday.

"First things first, both teams will need to assess conditions," he said. "If there's a little bit in it, it's harder to go extremely hard, but we know India have shown when it's flat and good they're very, very tough to stop.

"One thing to note here is that the boundaries are slightly larger as well, which works in the bowlers' favor more. However, as previously stated, if the surface is flat and not doing much, we will have ways to slow India down because we are aware that they are very, very good when the surface is flat and small.

"It's obviously nice if there is something in the pitch for the seamers to start, but throughout the series we are going around the country, they won't all be green seamers flying around, so both teams are going to have to quickly adjust to the conditions and then play accordingly."

Santner knows he is up for an especially difficult challenge as a left-arm spinner coming up against an India line-up full of left-hand batters.

"It is challenging," he said. "There is always something in New Zealand, but I wouldn't say in your favor everywhere you go. You can get a bit of bounce, here [at Hagley Oval] there's slightly a bigger side [of the ground], so you can kind of use that a little bit.

"But it's less of trying to spin the ball hard into the slot and hoping it does something. There might be a little bit less of that, there might be [more of] being smart with trying to get in and out of overs and build pressure through ones or dots.

"But I think it's going to change. You get to Wellington, dimensions again are different - short square [boundaries], longer straight, so that changes the way you bowl. Eden Park and Hamilton are both quite small. So throughout the series, as a bowler, as a bowling unit, we're going to have to be smart in the way you go about it."