Ravichandran Ashwin has backed Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a return to India’s T20I setup, making a case built not on sentiment but on specific cricket skills and it has only grown harder to argue against as India’s recent selection decisions take shape.
Ashwin made his position clear on JioHotstar’s Match Centre Live after Bhuvneshwar’s performance for RCB against Mumbai Indians in Raipur in May 2026. The clip resurfaced on July 24, 2026 as the debate intensifies.
“Hashtag ‘BringBackBhuvi’, I would love to see him being considered for the T20I side. Tick with the new ball, able to complete the death overs nicely, and if you need a six under pressure, he is hammering that as well in the toughest part of the ground. That was proper Test-match bowling after he realised there was something in the surface. He keeps testing you as an opening batter.”
Ravichandran Ashwin, JioHotstar Match Centre Live, May 11, 2026
That evening in Raipur, Bhuvneshwar took 4 wickets for 23 runs and hit a six in the final over to seal a two-wicket win for RCB. By the end of IPL 2026, he had 28 wickets in 16 matches, the Purple Cap, and a record: first IPL fast bowler to cross 200 career IPL wickets. Sunil Gavaskar, watching from the commentary box that night, used three words: “he is ageless.”
The selectors announced India’s T20I squad for the Ireland and England tours shortly after. Bhuvneshwar was not in it.
The pace attack chosen for those tours was Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, and Prince Yadav, who was uncapped at the time. Ireland and England offer overcast skies, early swing, and seaming pitches the exact conditions Bhuvneshwar has consistently exploited across his international career. The selectors went to those conditions with an uncapped bowler ahead of the man who had just finished as the most productive pace bowler in the IPL.
This is not the first time Ashwin has gone public on an India selection call. He speaks when he believes the cricket argument is clear. On this one, he has been consistent since IPL 2026 began. Former India opener Virender Sehwag made the same case on Cricbuzz in May 2026: “If he is 35-36 years old, so what? Bhuvneshwar Kumar seems to be the best bowler in this lot. If he is producing big performances, he should think about his comeback in the T20 format or the selectors should think about it.” Neither the selectors nor the BCCI have responded publicly.
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The logic behind ignoring Bhuvneshwar is never stated openly by the selection panel. It is implied in every squad announcement where his name does not appear: he is 36, and India is building for the future. That argument might hold if the next World Cup were in India, on familiar pitches where conditions can be managed. The 2027 ODI World Cup is in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, running from October 4 to November 21, 2027. South Africa hosts the bulk of the matches.
South African pitches in that period swing early, seam off the surface, and produce bounce that arrives on the batter faster than expected. These are not spin-friendly conditions or pace-over-everything conditions. They are conditions where bowlers who can move the ball at a consistent length in the first six overs cause the most damage. That is Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s exact skill.
His pace sits between 130 and 135 kph, which on paper looks manageable. What makes him difficult is what he does at that pace. A ball coming in at 135 kph that then moves away late through the air is a fundamentally different problem from a 145 kph delivery on a straight line. A batter can set for pace. You cannot reliably set for late swing at a pace where you have already committed to the drive. In South African conditions in October and November, that problem is compounded by the swing and seam in the surface. Ashwin has faced Bhuvneshwar in nets and in matches across years of playing together for India. He knows what that bowling creates for a batting lineup. His call for Bhuvi’s recall is not sentimental. It is a reading of conditions most of India’s current T20I pace attack have not been seriously tested in.
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Ravi Shastri arrived at the same reading one day before Ashwin’s clip resurfaced. On July 23, 2026, Shastri named his preferred 15 for the 2027 ODI World Cup during a discussion on Sportstak. His pace attack for South Africa included Bhuvneshwar Kumar alongside Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah not one of them, all three. Shastri coached India for six years. He has watched Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowl in every major condition on every continent. The inclusion was deliberate: “If you look at this Indian team, they have immense talent, they have quality players, and you just need to get the right balance and the right combination,” he said, framing experience as the missing piece after India’s 2-1 ODI series loss to England. Selecting an experienced swing bowler for South Africa conditions is not sentimental attachment to a name. It is a coaching decision.
Ashwin explained the WHY behind Bhuvi’s current form in a podcast around the same period. He pointed to two things: improved fitness giving him more stability at the crease, and consistent competitive cricket through the off-season. While other senior bowlers rested between IPL seasons, Bhuvneshwar played through the UP T20 League and the DY Patil tournament. He stayed match-ready by choice, and IPL 2026 showed what that discipline produces.
India’s bowling selection has drawn sustained scrutiny through 2026, and the Bhuvneshwar situation sits at the centre of that concern. The Ireland and England tours were the clearest opportunity to test him in World Cup-type conditions before the tournament. That window has closed. The question now is whether the selectors course-correct before 2027 makes it unavoidable.
Mohammed Shami is facing the same wall. He recovered from injury and took wickets for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2026. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar acknowledged Shami was ready for T20 cricket when asked about his omission from the Afghanistan series, but Shami did not play the Zimbabwe T20I series either. Two experienced bowlers, both performing, both repeatedly left out and now two of the most credible coaching voices in Indian cricket publicly naming them in the same World Cup squad.
“My job is to give 100 percent on the field, and I’m doing that. No matter how well you perform, sometimes luck doesn’t favour you.”
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, September 2025
He said that while leading Lucknow Falcons in the UP T20 League, staying sharp during a domestic season where the India door had not opened despite everything he had produced in the IPL. No anger, no drama just a professional reading his situation clearly. Bhuvneshwar has not played for India since the T20 World Cup semifinal against England in Adelaide in November 2022. He has never been told he is no longer needed. He has simply not been selected, which is its own answer.
Ashwin, Sehwag, Gavaskar, Shastri experienced voices across different eras of Indian cricket are saying the same thing from different angles. What unites them is not fondness for a player. It is a shared understanding of what a World Cup in South Africa will demand from India’s bowling attack and who is available right now to meet it.
🔴 NO MOHD SHAMI, BRING BACK BHUVNESHWAR – RAVI ASHWIN 🤯
Ravi Ashwin 🎙️: Bhuvneshwar Kumar deserves to be back in the India selection discussion.
– Ashwin said Bhuvi has stayed fit, was one of RCB’s biggest match-winners, and still has everything India needs new-ball swing,… pic.twitter.com/7hKEHd3cXM
— Sam (@cricsam02) July 24, 2026
The clip was shared by @cricsam02 on X on July 24, 2026. Ravichandran Ashwin’s original remarks were made during his public appearances in May and June 2026. No official BCCI statement has been made in response at time of publication.
Sources:
- Ravi Shastri 2027 World Cup squad, July 23, 2026 Yardbarker
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