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Ravichandran Ashwin has backed Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the upcoming 2027 ODI World Cup, which will be held across South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. While speaking on ESPNcricinfo’s YouTube channel, the legendary spinner picked the bunch of players whom, according to him, deserve to be in the team for the 2027 World Cup.
While Ravichandran Ashwin backed multiple senior cricketers for the World Cup, he surprisingly took Washington Sundar and Rishabh Pant out of his choice of players.
Ravichandran Ashwin confirms Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in his playing combination
Ashwin began the discussion by selecting the batting legends Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. For the rest of the batting order, the former Team India cricketer included captain Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, and for the bowling plus batting duties, he mentioned Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya.
For the bowling, Ravichandran Ashwin again showed his trust mostly in the experienced candidates. Over Washington Sundar, he voted for Kuldeep Yadav as the main spinner of the team. Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah are the three pacers in Ashwin’s playing combination for the ODI World Cup.
The exclusions of Washington Sundar and Rishabh Pant were the surprising calls made by the cricketer-turned-expert. The discussion turned more interesting when he supported the experienced pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has a decent record in South Africa.
Why did Ravichandran Ashwin select Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the 2027 ODI World Cup?
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the 36-year-old pacer who helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to win Indian Premier League (IPL) titles in two consecutive seasons, has 19 wickets from 13 international matches at an average of 35.26, including best figures of 5/24 in South Africa.
Because of Kumar’s vast experience in international cricket and his effective bowling in the recent past, Ravichandran Ashwin named him in his team.
“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,” Ashwin said to ESPNcricinfo.
Once a frontline pacer of the India National Cricket Team, Bhuvneshwar Kumar rejuvenated his bowling with some newly added tools in his bag. With accurate Yorkers and pace variations, the ‘swing-king’ of Indian cricket was unstoppable throughout IPL 2026.
In 121 One-Day Internationals, the fast bowler has clinched 141 wickets at an average of 35.11, with best figures of 5/42. Across the formats for the national team, Kumar has picked 294 wickets in 229 international matches. Bhuvneshwar Kumar's last match for Team India was against New Zealand in Napier on November 22, 2022, for a T20 International match.
Sanju Samson and Mohammed Shami are doubtful for the 2027 ODI World Cup selection
Ravichandran Ashwin backed Kumar for selection, but remained indecisive for Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna.
Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant, Abhishek Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, Shivam Dube, Prince Yadav and Gurnoor Brar are among the talents Ashwin ignored from his preferred playing combination.
