Calcutta: Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah have been India's preferred new-ball bowlers in the limited format of the game. Such has been their consistency that captain Virat Kohli hasn't felt the need to bring back Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav into the limited-overs team.

Speaking at a media conference ahead of the T20I series decider in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday, Bhuvneshwar revealed that his on-field communication with Bumrah has helped them form a successful pair. The 27-year-old also said that Bumrah's ability to bowl well in the death overs makes his job easier.

"When you bowl with Bumrah, you have the confidence that if you need to save runs at the death, and if you bowl well, he will also do that.

"Another good thing is that when the match begins, we talk to each other about the track, what strategy we can make. It's of great help for both the bowlers," Bhuvneshwar said.

Praising Bumrah for improving himself a lot as a bowler, Bhuvneshwar said: "Bumrah has a different action, which creates problems for the batsmen. He has improved a lot of things with his action. He had these yorkers and slower ones earlier as well, but he has improved a lot."

New Zealand won the second T20I in Rajkot by 40 runs after India had won the first in New Delhi. Bhuvneshwar didn't agree that the bowlers could be blamed for the setback in Rajkot.

"You cannot blame the bowlers for the loss. The other team is there to play as well. We played good cricket against Australia and even when we toured the West Indies. A three-match series is very small... If you win one and lose one, it is tied at 1-1 and then you are left with a decider," he said.

Asked if the team missed a fifth bowler, Bhuvneshwar said: "As far as a fifth bowler is concerned, we have Hardik Pandya and others who bowl part-time. We haven't missed an extra specialist bowler so far. If your main bowlers do not take a wicket or go for runs, then you miss a bowler. We think a lot about team combination."

According to the medium-pacer, Colin Munro has been the most difficult batsman to bowl to in the series.

"Munro has troubled us, but there are the others as well. Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill are good batsmen as well.

"We can't really pick one batsman when their team has been playing really well. Both the ODI series and the T20Is have come down to the decider... So I think Munro is a dangerous batsman, but New Zealand as a team are good too," he said.