Bhuvneshwar Kumar added to India’s squad for final T20I against West Indies

Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s return to India’s playing XI could come earlier than expected, with the pace ace added to India’s squad for the final T20I to be played in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Bhuvi’s participation in the game, though, is subject to Arshdeep Singh’s fitness, with the left arm pacer having copped a blow to his bowling hand while batting in the final over of the 4th T20I in Hyderabad.

The press release from BCCI confirming the addition of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, stated, “Bhuvneshwar Kumar was added to the squad after Arshdeep Singh sustained a blow to his bowling shoulder during the fourth T20I of the series against West Indies on Wednesday in Hyderabad. A decision on his participation for the final T20I will be taken prior to the game based on his recovery.”

India will be locking horns with West Indies for the series decider, slated to be played in Bengaluru tomorrow. The series is locked at 2-2, after the Islanders staged a strong turnaround in Hyderabad, defending 247 successfully despite India’s charge.

Kumar has 90 T20I wickets from the 87 games that he has played so far at an economy rate of 6.96. More importantly, it is his experience that makes him a valuable addition to the side in a series where the batters have run absolute riots so far.

His return to India colours will be a remarkable story in itself, with Bhuvi having become a household name among the Bengaluru fans at the Chinnaswamy Stadium across the previous two editions of the IPL.

India’s updated T20I squad: Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan [WK], Sanju Samson [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Naman Dhir, Bhuvneshwar Kumar