Bhuvneshwar Kumar Called Into India Squad For Bengaluru Decider

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been added to India's squad for Saturday's fifth T20I against the West Indies in Bengaluru, after Arshdeep Singh took a blow to his bowling shoulder in Hyderabad. The BCCI's Men's Selection Committee confirmed the call-up on Friday. Arshdeep has not been ruled out. A decision on him will be taken before the match, subject to his recovery.

The series is level at 2-2. West Indies won the fourth T20I on Wednesday to force a decider at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. India go into it with a 16-man squad and one unresolved fitness call.

The blow in Hyderabad

Arshdeep was struck late in India's chase. India.com and IANS both report a short ball from Shamar Joseph, in the final over. He left the field soon after. The BCCI release names the bowling shoulder and nothing further. It grades nothing and sets no timeline.

He stays in the party, so this is not a straight replacement. If he is passed fit, Bhuvneshwar is cover. If he is not, India's specialist seam options for the decider are Bhuvneshwar, Prince Yadav and Mayank Yadav, with Shivam Dube and Nitish Kumar Reddy offering seam-bowling all-round cover.

Four years between caps

Bhuvneshwar is 36. His last India appearance came in a T20I against New Zealand in November 2022, a gap of close to four years. India.com and ETV Bharat both place that final cap on the New Zealand tour. IANS puts it at the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final against England instead. The gap is the same either way.

The case for him was built in the IPL. ETV Bharat's tally of his four seasons since that last cap reads 16 wickets in 2023, 11 in 2024, 17 in 2025 and 28 in 16 matches in 2026, the last of those at an economy rate of 7.95 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. That is his best of the four. It came on the ground where he may now play.

India's 16 for Bengaluru

The squad, as published after Friday's addition:

• Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma (vice-captain)
• Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Naman Dhir
• Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper)
• Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy
• Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi
• Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Two squads, five days apart

Bhuvneshwar was already named in India's T20I squad for New Zealand, a five-match series that begins on 22 October. Friday's addition moves his possible return forward by five days. It also moves it into a game that settles a series rather than opens one.

India have used this series to look at a young batting group. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Naman Dhir are in the squad, Shreyas Iyer leads it, and Tilak Varma is his deputy. The bowling has been the settled end of it. Losing Arshdeep for the decider would unsettle that too.

Play starts on Saturday. The team will be known at the toss.