Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned to the Indian team's playing XI after nearly four years for the fifth T20I against West Indies at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The star pacer took his place in the playing XI for the series decider, which has been reduced to a nine-over game due to rain.

Bhuvneshwar's last appearance for the Indian team was on 22nd November 2022, when the Men in Blue faced New Zealand in a T20I at Napier. In the 1425-day interval between his two outings for the world champions, India have played 104 T20Is.

Bhuvneshwar now shares the record for the most games missed for India before playing again in a T20I. He has equalled a record pacer Khaleel Ahmed held. The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bowler had also missed 104 games for India after playing against Bangladesh in 2019 before making a comeback in 2024 against Zimbabwe.

Bahrain's Mohammed Sameer made a comeback after missing 116 games earlier this year, after being out of action for six years. Rwanda's D Uwimaha was out of action for 109 games between 2021 and 2026.