Christchurch: India's T20 captain Shreyas Iyer said on Wednesday that teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will have to wait for his opportunities in the T20I side, saying he cannot walk into the playing XI just yet because Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson are scoring consistently at the top of the order, IANS reported. Iyer was speaking ahead of the first match of India's five-match T20I series against New Zealand, which begins on Thursday, October 22, at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.

"It's important that a talent like him (Sooryavanshi) should always be happy around the dressing room. He is very young; he has more years to get opportunities. It's not like he can walk in right now, because our openers are scoring consistently, and they have won the World Cup," Iyer said, as reported by IANS. The 15-year-old has played eight T20Is, all of them overseas, scoring 246 runs at an average of 30.75 with two half-centuries, according to CricTracker. The ICC also reported Iyer's backing for the youngster to use the tour to learn New Zealand conditions for future assignments.

The series also marks the return of senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who last bowled for India in November 2022 at Napier and is back in the T20I setup after nearly four years, ANI reported. Bhuvneshwar has 90 wickets in 88 T20Is and needs 10 more to reach 100 in the format. His recall follows back-to-back IPL titles with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, including 28 wickets in the 2026 IPL season, ANI reported. "He brings a lot of experience to the team. And we were lacking that, especially after the IPL we had a lot of new bowlers. If you see his career graph in the last two years, he's won the IPL also, so he has a very good idea of dominating this format," Iyer said.

New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner also flagged Bhuvneshwar as a threat with the new ball. "I think Bhuvi will love these conditions in New Zealand. If there's anything in the wicket, he'll find something out of it," Santner said, as reported by ANI via Cricinfo. The T20I series runs until November 1, and the tour continues with five ODIs and two Tests deep into November, CricTracker reported. Iyer captains the T20I side with Tilak Varma as his deputy.

Sources: IANS, ANI, ICC and CricTracker, reporting from Christchurch on October 21, 2026.