Ashwin Names His India 2027 World Cup Squad and Calls for a Bhuvneshwar Return

R Ashwin has set out the India squad he would take to the 2027 ODI World Cup, favouring experience. Speaking on Cricinfo, he kept Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in his batting line-up alongside Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Sanju Samson missed out. He also backed Gill to remain India’s ODI captain.

Core of the side

His all-rounders were Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel, with Kuldeep Yadav as the specialist spinner. The pace attack was Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Harshit Rana.

Ashwin said he was unsure about several players and put them in a maybe category: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna.

The Bhuvneshwar case

His boldest suggestion was to bring back Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has not played ODIs since 2022. Ashwin said India should tell him, get him playing all the domestic tournaments, including first-class cricket and the Vijay Hazare Trophy, and have him ready for the tournament in South Africa, where he thinks India will need him.

Bhuvneshwar has done well in recent IPL seasons, contributing to Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s back-to-back titles. Across the last two editions he took 45 wickets in 30 matches at an average of 21.87 and an economy rate of 8.56.

In ODIs he has played 121 matches for India, taking 141 wickets at 35.11, with best figures of 5/42 and an economy rate of 5.08. That record, particularly with the new ball, makes him a possible option if India want to add experience for 2027.