R Ashwin picks his India squad for ODI World Cup 2027, no place for Pant-Sundar, wants Bhuvi back

India’s legendary off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has picked his squad for the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2027. Once again, Ashwin has backed veteran pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar to return to India setup after more than four years. He wants the team management and selection committee to ask Bhuvneshwar to resume playing domestic cricket across formats.

In an interaction with ESPNCricinfo, Ashwin was asked to put players in ‘yes’, ‘no’ and ‘maybe’ category for selection in the ODI World Cup 2027 to be played in South Africa along with co-hosts Zimbabwe and Namibia.

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Ashwin said yes to 12 players and at the end of the video, he mentioned the name of Bhuvneshwar who hasn’t been the scheme of things for a long time but has showed form in the Indian Premier League (IPL), helping Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) win back-to-back titles.

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"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," he said.

Ashwin’s snubs these players for ODI World Cup 2027

Ashwin had a clear no for wicketkeepers Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant, openers Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Abhishek Sharma, pacer Prince Yadav, leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi and all-rounders Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube. Sundar has been a regular in the ODI side as well, barring the ODI series against England where he was ruled out due to injury. Recently, Dube made his ODI return in the absence of Hardik Pandya and Nitish Kumar Reddy. Also, he snubbed Prince who has made his T20I and ODI debuts on the UK tour. 

Ashwin’s list of confirmed players he wants for ODI World Cup 2027

Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Shubman Gill, Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Ashwin’s list of ‘maybes’ for ODI World Cup 2027

Ashwin has kept opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja, Reddy, batter Ruturaj Gaikwad, mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy, pacers Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna and Gurnoor Brar in the ‘maybe’ list. Notably, Arshdeep and Krishna were part of the recent ODI series. Also, Brar played the ODI series against Afghanistan and England. Jaiswal and Gaikwad have been snubbed despite key performances whereas selectors seem to have moved on from Jadeja.