Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has excluded Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Mohammed Shami and Washington Sundar from his list of players he believes should represent India at the 2027 ICC Men’s ODI World Cup.
Ashwin also feels that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Shivam Dube, Gurnoor Brar, Prince Yadav and Ravi Bishnoi are unlikely to make India’s squad for next year’s tournament. Meanwhile, he placed Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna in the “maybe” category.
Speaking in a video shared by Cricinfo on Thursday, Ashwin said Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav and
Hardik Pandya should all be part of India’s squad for the 2027 ODI World Cup. For the role of the second wicketkeeper-batter, he backed Ishan Kishan.
One of the biggest surprises in Ashwin’s selection was the inclusion of out-of-favour pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has not played an ODI for India since January 2022.
According to Ashwin, India will need Bhuvneshwar’s experience at the 50-over showpiece next year.
He even said he would personally urge the veteran pacer to play every available tournament to prepare for the marquee event.
“Bhuvneshwar Kumar is a yes. I would communicate to him, get him to play all the tournaments – first-class cricket, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, everything. And get him primed going to South Africa. I think we would need him there,” Ashwin said.
Bhuvneshwar, who made his ODI debut against Pakistan in January 2013, has played 121 ODIs for India and taken 141 wickets. However, he has not represented India in the 50-over format since January 21, 2022.
The 36-year-old right-arm pacer has been away from international cricket but remains a regular in the Indian Premier League. He represented Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL 2026, where he picked up 28 wickets in 16 matches.
Bhuvneshwar finished as the tournament’s second-highest wicket-taker and played a key role in helping RCB successfully defend their IPL title.
