India have added Bhuvneshwar Kumar to their squad for the fifth and final T20I against West Indies, after Arshdeep Singh took a blow to his bowling shoulder in Hyderabad. The series is level at 2-2, the match is at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday, October 17 at 7:00 pm IST, and the BCCI has not ruled Arshdeep out. In its release, the board said a decision on his participation “will be taken prior to the game based on his recovery”, according to PTI’s report in The Hindu.

How Arshdeep was hurt

The injury came at the very end of the fourth T20I on Wednesday. Cricinfo reports that he copped a blow to his bicep from a Shamar Joseph delivery while batting towards the end of India’s chase, that the ball was the last of the match, and that he retired hurt. West Indies won by 24 runs.

After the game, Sanju Samson gave an update. “Arshdeep is putting ice on his shoulders. Hopefully he gets well soon. He got struck by a high-speed ball. Hope he recovers soon,” he said, as quoted by Outlook India.

Arshdeep has played all four T20Is in the series and taken five wickets, per Cricinfo. He is also part of the T20I squad that leaves for New Zealand on Sunday, which gives the medical staff a second reason to be careful with him.

The BCCI release on Friday afternoon said Arshdeep “sustained a blow to his bowling shoulder” in Hyderabad. Gulf News adds that he was struck by a short delivery from Shamar Joseph in the final over of the chase, and that he left the field in discomfort. Outlook India had reported a day earlier that Bhuvneshwar was already at the Centre of Excellence, which made a late squad change easy to arrange, though it said there was then no official confirmation.

Why Bhuvneshwar, and why now

Bhuvneshwar was not an emergency pick from nowhere. Last week the selectors had already recalled him for the New Zealand T20Is, his first India call since November 2022, a story we covered when it broke in Bhuvneshwar Kumar Recalled to India’s T20I Squad for New Zealand Tour After Nearly Four Years. Cricinfo says he checked into the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru for a fitness assessment last week and has since built up his bowling workload. His last competitive action was in the UPT20 League in September.

The recall rests on his IPL form. He took 28 wickets in 16 matches for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL 2026 and finished second on the wickets chart behind Purple Cap winner Kagiso Rabada, according to the Times of India. The Chinnaswamy is RCB’s home ground, so the venue is familiar to him. His Wikipedia profile has his earlier India record for anyone who wants the long view.

He is 36, and the Hindu’s PTI copy notes the New Zealand T20I series starts October 22 in Christchurch. Being added “as cover” does not mean he plays on Saturday. The TOI says whether he features in the XI depends on the team management.

What the former New Zealand captain thinks

Former New Zealand captain Tim Southee backed the recall before the injury news landed. “He has done everything he possibly could to deserve another call-up. He is a very skilful, experienced bowler who knows his game better than ever before,” Southee said, as quoted by the Times of India.

The same article describes what Southee expects Bhuvneshwar to bring: control with the new ball, discipline through the middle overs and the ability to close an innings. Those are the exact jobs India’s attack has struggled with in this series.

A series that has gone to the batters

The IANS preview sums up the numbers. West Indies have chased 250 in this series, defended 247 by 24 runs and came close to a 224-run target in three of the four contests. India are playing without Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Washington Sundar.

• Series score: 2-2 after West Indies won the fourth T20I by 24 runs
• Shai Hope: 539 runs in five games on the tour, with four centuries (two in ODIs, two in T20Is), per IANS
• Sanju Samson: two half-centuries in the T20Is
• Abhishek Sharma: 29 off 24 balls in the fourth T20I

We have tracked the Hope numbers here in our Shai Hope tour breakdown, and the earlier chase in West Indies Chase 250 With Nine Balls to Spare. IANS adds that whenever Hope has stayed not out, West Indies have won, and that all three of those games went the visitors’ way.

The bowling question India keep being asked

Gautam Gambhir raised the issue after Ranchi, when 501 runs were scored in the match. Our piece on his warning to bowlers has the detail. Since then the totals have kept coming, and India’s seam options are thin.

Cricinfo lists the frontline fast bowlers in the squad as Arshdeep, Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav, with Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shivam Dube as seam-bowling allrounders. If Arshdeep misses out, the pace group shrinks to Mayank, Prince and Bhuvneshwar, with Nitish and Dube as part-timers. Cricinfo also notes that selectors are already juggling the ODI squad because of injuries to Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana.

For more on how the team has been picked and judged across the series, our India cricket section has the full run of posts.

The spin side of the selection debate

The pace attack is not the only selection question. Kuldeep Yadav played in Lucknow and Ranchi and was then left out for Indore and Hyderabad, according to Sportzdaily. He took 2/33 in the opening T20I and conceded 53 in the second, which India lost. West Indies then piled up 247 in Hyderabad.

R Ashwin, speaking on his YouTube channel, said: “It is very surprising because, on a ground where you expect to get some bounce, I know it has not always been a happy hunting ground for spinners, but the West Indies batters are struggling to pick his googly and leg-spin.” Kuldeep is in the squad for Bengaluru, so the management has the option to bring him back.

If Arshdeep is unfit and Bhuvneshwar plays, the balance of the XI will be the first thing to watch when the teams are announced at the toss.

Rain and a home record on the line

IANS says showers are predicted in Bengaluru, so a shortened game or a washout is possible. If West Indies win, they would become the first team to beat India in a T20I series in India since Australia won 2-0 in February 2019, per the same preview.

The squad for the decider: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Naman Dhir and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, as published by the BCCI. Our cricket coverage will have the result after Saturday’s 7:00 pm IST start.

The board’s call on Arshdeep is due before that first ball, and the New Zealand squad leaves on Sunday.

Sources: BCCI, Cricinfo, The Hindu (PTI), Times of India, IANS, Outlook India, Gulf News, Sportzdaily.

Featured image: Bhuvneshwar Kumar in his delivery run-up during the 2013 Champions Trophy group stage match against South Africa. Photo: Dee03 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0