Arshdeep’s injury occurred when he copped a blow to his bicep from a Shamar Joseph delivery while batting towards the end of India’s chase in the fourth T20I in Hyderabad. That ball proved to be the last of the match, with Arshdeep retiring hurt. A BCCI release said, “A decision on his participation is likely to be taken prior to the game, based on his recovery.”
Speaking the evening before the fifth T20I, bowling coach Morne Morkel said Bhuvneshwar has been added to the squad, but “nobody is ruled out. All the guys are available… [Arshdeep] is recovering well after the blow he took on the shoulder, so I think he is definitely not ruled out for tomorrow, still available. But obviously, [the management] will make a call tomorrow at some stage.”
Bhuvneshwar, meanwhile, checked into the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru for a fitness assessment last week. He has since built up his bowling workloads in preparation for the New Zealand T20Is. He was last in action during the UPT20 League in September.
Having spoken of being completely detached from selection worries earlier this season, Bhuvneshwar has broken through based on his IPL performances for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) over successive title-winning seasons. In IPL 2026, Bhuvneshwar picked up 28 wickets in 16 matches, and finished second on the wickets chart behind Purple-Cap-winner Kagiso Rabada.
“Very excited to have [Bhuvneshwar] back in the mix,” Morkel said. “He has obviously done really well here [in Bengaluru] for RCB in the past, and I think his experience will add a lot of value to a… younger bowling attack.”
Arshdeep is part of the T20I squad that is set to depart for New Zealand on Sunday. His injury comes at a time when India’s selectors are also grappling with the make-up of the ODI squad, in the wake of injuries to other fast bowlers, notably Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana. As things stand, it’s also likely some members of the squad could be released early from the ODI series in New Zealand to prepare for the two-match Test series that follows.
Arshdeep has featured in each of the four T20Is against West Indies, picking five wickets. Apart from Bhuvneshwar and Arshdeep, Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav are the only other frontline fast-bowling options in the squad, with Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shivam Dube as seam-bowling allrounders.
India’s squad for fifth T20I vs West Indies
Shreyas Iyer (capt), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Naman Dhir, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
