Ashwin backs Bhuvneshwar Kumar for India's 2027 World Cup squad

Mumbai: Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin wants veteran out-of-favour Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the squad for the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup, to be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Bhuvneshwar last represented India in November 2022 in the T20I format, and last played an ODI during the same year. Since then, the team management has moved on from him due to his history of injuries and age not being by his side, currently aged 36. If the 'Swing King' of India plays the 2027 ODI World Cup, he will be 37 years of age and the senior-most pacer in the squad.

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Speaking in a video posted on ESPNCricinfo's YouTube, Ashwin said, "Bhuvneshwar Kumar is a yes. I would communicate to him. Get him to play all the tournaments, first-class, Vijay Hazare, everything, and get him prime going to South Africa. I think we will need him there."

Notably, in 13 international appearances in South Africa, Bhuvneshwar has taken 19 wickets at an average of 35.26, with best figures of 5/24. Only two of these 19 wickets have come in ODIs, in eight appearances.

The veteran's recent red-hot run with back-to-back Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) this season is hard to ignore, as he thrived in high-scoring conditions with his traditional Test match style of bowling, yorkers and swing, ending as the second-highest wicket-taker with 28 wickets in 16 matches at an average of 17.89, with an economy rate of 7.95.

In 121 ODIs, Bhuvneshwar has taken 141 wickets at an average of 35.11 and an economy rate of 5.08, with best figures of 5/42. Overall in 229 international matches, he has taken 294 wickets.

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Ashwin also chose his 2027 WC squad, giving a yes to legends Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and also the core stars Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, ODI skipper Shubman Gill, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah. Two youngsters who received a thumbs up from Ashwin were pacer Harshit Rana, whose height, ability to hit the deck, pace and batting could be handy in testing South African conditions and wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan.

The legendary all-rounder picked up Kuldeep Yadav as his main spinner and picked Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj to lead the pace pack with Bhuvneshwar.

Ashwin was not sure about some players' selection for the squad, with players being opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Varun Chakaravarthy, his long-time partner-in-spin Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh, and Prasidh Krishna.

Among the names he said 'No' to were wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson, India's T20I sensation Abhishek Sharma, star wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, Ravi Bishnoi, all-rounder Shivam Dube and pacers Prince Yadav, and Gurnoor Brar.