World Championship of Legends 2026 loses Pakistan Champions after the PCB demands an apology from Indian players over last season’s boycott.<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/aside>\nBhuvneshwar Also Gives India Something With the Bat<\/h2>\n
There is another factor that should not be ignored.<\/p>\n
Bhuvneshwar is not a genuine all-rounder, but he is a technically capable lower-order batter. He has scored 552 runs in ODIs and another 552 runs in Test cricket, where he has three half-centuries.<\/p>\n
His ODI career also includes a half-century.<\/p>\n
For a team looking for depth at No. 8 or No. 9, the ability to contribute 15-25 useful runs can matter. Bhuvneshwar has shown during his international career that he can stay at the crease, defend properly and contribute when the top and middle order have already been dismissed.<\/p>\n
That gives him another advantage over a specialist tailender.<\/p>\n
T20Is Could Be the First Step Towards an ODI Return<\/h2>\n
This is what makes his selection for the New Zealand T20Is particularly interesting.<\/p>\n
Bhuvneshwar has not played an ODI for India since January 2022 and has played very little List A cricket in recent years. Putting him straight into a demanding 50-over international series after such a long gap would therefore carry obvious risks.<\/p>\n
T20Is provide India with an easier route to bring him back into international cricket and assess his fitness, rhythm and ability to handle the workload again.<\/p>\n
If his body responds well, the next step could be getting him back into 50-over cricket before assessing whether he can become part of India\u2019s ODI World Cup plans.<\/p>\n
That would also explain why a bowler who had been consistently performing in the IPL without receiving an India recall has suddenly returned now. His recent T20 performances were already strong enough to keep his name in discussion. What has changed is India\u2019s situation in ODI cricket.<\/p>\n
With Harshit Rana dealing with injury concerns while also proving expensive, Prasidh Krishna again suffering a hamstring problem, Gurnoor Brar conceding runs at an alarming rate and Auqib Nabi\u2019s first ODI experiment going badly, India\u2019s options have narrowed considerably.<\/p>\n
Mohammed Shami\u2019s fitness and availability also remain factors India cannot simply ignore while planning so far ahead.<\/p>\n
The selectors therefore have a serious problem to solve before the 2027 ODI World Cup. Bumrah cannot carry an entire pace attack alone, and India are still searching for another bowler whose place can be considered secure.<\/p>\n
That search has eventually brought them back to Bhuvneshwar Kumar.<\/p>\n
His age means this is unlikely to be about building India\u2019s T20I attack for years to come. His experience, control, new-ball movement, deadly yorkers, death-over variations, recent form and useful lower-order batting, however, could still have considerable value in ODI cricket.<\/p>\n
The New Zealand T20Is may therefore only be the starting point. The much bigger target is the 2027 ODI World Cup.<\/p>\n
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