Bhuvneshwar Kumar returns to India duty as captain for the Hong Kong Sixes

Bhuvneshwar Kumar will captain a seven-man India side at the Hong Kong Sixes at the end of October, his first appearance in India colours since November 2022

Cricket Hong Kong named the India squad on Monday for the six-a-side tournament, which is played over three days from 30 October to 1 November. All seven players made their names in the Indian Premier League.

India have been drawn in Group C alongside Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, in a field of twelve teams made up of eight full members and four associates.

For Bhuvneshwar, who is 36, the appointment is a return to an India shirt rather than a recall to the international side proper. He has not played a match for India since a T20I against New Zealand on 22 November 2022.

A first India shirt since 2022

Bhuvneshwar played 229 matches for India across the three international formats, a career made up of 21 Tests, 121 ODIs and 87 T20Is.

He took 63 Test wickets, 141 in ODIs and 90 in T20Is, and for most of the last decade was the bowler India turned to with the new ball in white-ball cricket.

Since that New Zealand match his cricket has been played in the IPL, where he has been part of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru attack.

Seven names drawn from the IPL

Krunal Pandya joins his Royal Challengers team-mate in the squad, with Nitish Rana and T Natarajan both coming from Delhi Capitals.

Shashank Singh of Punjab Kings, Rahul Tewatia of Gujarat Titans and Rahul Tripathi of Kolkata Knight Riders complete the seven.

It is a side built for a format with no room to settle: Tewatia and Shashank are finishers by trade, Rana and Tripathi open or bat early, and Natarajan and Bhuvneshwar give the attack a yorker specialist at either end of an innings.

Grouped with Pakistan again

Pakistan arrive as defending champions, having beaten Kuwait in the final of the 2025 edition.

They were in India's group last year as well. India beat them in Hong Kong in 2025 but lost the matches that followed and went out before the knockout rounds.

Australia, England and hosts Hong Kong make up Group A, Bangladesh, Scotland and Sri Lanka Group B, and Afghanistan, Oman and South Africa Group D.

Group winners move into the Cup semi-finals, with the teams below them dropping into the Plate and Bowl competitions.

How the Sixes are played

Each side fields six players and each innings lasts six overs, so a match is finished inside an hour.

Every fielder except the wicketkeeper bowls an over, with one of them bowling two, which is why a squad of specialists is of limited use and all-rounders are prized.

Batters retire not out on reaching 50, and may come back to the crease if wickets fall after them.

Hong Kong expect a lift from the Indian names

Anuraag Bhatnagar, Director of Marketing and Commercial at Cricket Hong Kong, said the organisers were "very grateful to the Indian cricket authorities for their support in helping us put together arguably one of the strongest sides that has represented India in the history of the Sixes".

Bhatnagar added that the squad's presence "will surely prove to be a quantum leap forward in terms of viewership" for the tournament.

India have yet to make an impression since the event returned in 2024, and have won once in two visits.

None of the seven is in India's current T20I squad, which opens a five-match series against West Indies in Lucknow this week.

India's first match in Hong Kong will be played when the tournament opens on 30 October.

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