Santner's New Zealand face India at Hagley Oval without the injured Rachin Ravindra

New Zealand open their five-match T20I series against India at Hagley Oval on Thursday without Rachin Ravindra, but with Michael Bracewell and Adam Milne restored to a 16-man squad

The first T20I in Christchurch is the first meeting between the two sides since the T20 World Cup final in March, which India won by 96 runs. Mitchell Santner captains a New Zealand side that keeps 13 of the players from that match.

Ravindra is the most significant absentee. The all-rounder dislocated his right shoulder during a promotional shoot and faces around six weeks of rehabilitation, which rules him out of the T20I leg entirely.

India arrive under Shreyas Iyer for a 12-match tour that takes in five T20Is, five ODIs and two Tests.

A rematch of the World Cup final

India made 255 for 5 in the final in March and bowled New Zealand out for 159, a margin that left the hosts of this series as runners-up for the second time in three global T20 events.

Thirteen of the players named for Christchurch were in that squad, so the selection panel has resisted the temptation to rebuild after a heavy defeat.

Santner, who led New Zealand through the tournament, continues as T20I captain, and the core of that side is intact for a home series rather than broken up.

Ravindra out for about six weeks

Ravindra's injury was sustained away from the field, during a promotional shoot, and the dislocation of his right shoulder has been given a recovery window of roughly six weeks.

He is targeting the ODI series that begins on 4 November at Eden Park, which would mean missing all five T20Is but little else of the tour.

Seam bowler Ben Sears was also unavailable for selection, still working his way back from an ankle injury.

Bracewell and Milne back in

Both Bracewell and Milne missed the T20 World Cup through injury and return for the first international assignment of the home summer.

Milne, now 34, has not played for New Zealand in more than a year, his last appearance coming against Zimbabwe. He arrives with 243 T20 matches behind him, 56 of them internationals.

Bracewell, a spin-bowling all-rounder, gives Santner a second slow option and lengthens a batting order that was dismantled in the final.

Seven seamers in a 16-man squad

Milne joins Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes and Nathan Smith in a seven-strong pace group, a depth that suits five matches in eleven days.

The full squad is Santner, Finn Allen, Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Duffy, Ferguson, Foulkes, Henry, Bevon Jacobs, Jamieson, Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert and Smith.

Tim Seifert and Finn Allen are reunited at the top of the order for the first time since the World Cup.

Five matches in eleven days

Hagley Oval stages the first two T20Is, on 22 and 24 October, before the series moves to Wellington on 27 October, Eden Park on 30 October and Seddon Park in Hamilton on 1 November.

That is four cities in eleven days, with every match scheduled to start at 12.30pm IST.

New Zealand Cricket said more than 76,000 tickets had been sold across the tour a month before the opening match, a figure that reflects how rarely India tour New Zealand for a programme this long.

The T20Is are the first of three legs, with the five-match ODI series following in November and two Tests closing the tour in Wellington and Christchurch.

New Zealand and India begin the series at Hagley Oval on Thursday, with the second T20I at the same ground two days later.

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