Published 18:33 IST, October 24th 2019
"Fit" Bhuvi ignored yet again; Rohit to lead in Virat's absence in T20
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has been ruled out of the upcoming bilateral series against Bangladesh. India will be playing three T20Is and two Tests Starting November 3
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He was India's bowling spearhead till recently, but once out due to injury, he now finds himself "dumped" and "ignored" by the selectors for no good reason. While all the picks for Indian Test and Twenty20 teams against Bangladesh series were on expected lines, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar's name did not make the cut when selectors today announced the teams for both the formats. As Republic TV had reported it first, Virat Kohli opted to rest himself and MS Dhoni still unavailable, Rohit Sharma will be leading India in the T20 series.
Bhuvi's last outing
'Bhuvi' last played for Team India in a T20 match against West Indies on August 6 and was ignored for the South Africa series. Strangely, Indian team management feels Bhuvneshwar fits only for the ODIs and not in Test or Twenty20 formats. Indian team coach Ravi Shastri had recently said that Bhuvneshwar was only an ODI option going forward. "There is Bumrah, Shami and Ishant in Test with Umesh Yadav, and Navdeep Saini as back up. How you look after each one of them is very important. In ODIs, we have Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed and Deepak Chahar in the wings," he said. Notably, all the other pace bowlers, except for Bhuvi, were considered and included in either Test or T20 teams or both. Bhuvneshwar toured the Caribbean recently for the ODIs and T20Is, after being left out of the Tests, and he picked four wickets in the second ODI while conceding 31 runs. Bhuvneshwar was unavailable for selection for the recent T20I series against South Africa and the Tests that will commence on October 2, though there has been no official announcement to that effect.
Bhuvi's chances in World T20
So that brings us to the question of whether Bhuvneshwar still is in the plans for the T20 World Cup next year in Australia. Also, where is he placed in red-ball Test cricket where Bhuvi is expected to play a major role when it starts to swing. India’s squad for T20I series against Bangladesh: Rohit Sharma(Capt), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant(wk), Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shivam Dube, Shardul Thakur. India’s squad for Test series against Bangladesh: Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Saha (wk), R Jadeja, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant.
18:00 IST, October 24th 2019