The debate over whether Bhuvi deserves his place misses the bigger issue.
The worrying part is that we're going backwards and BCCI still hasn't identified or developed reliable long term bowlers from the domestic circuit
๐จ๐จ๐ฃ๐ฃ BREAKING: CRISTIANO RONALDO RELEASES A STATEMENT EXPLAINING WHAT HAPPENED WITH PORTUGAL. ๐ต๐น
TAKE A GOOD 5 MINUTES ๐
โAs I had promised, I decided to recount myself, and in a direct manner, the circumstances surrounding the last gathering of the national team.
After the 2026 World Cup, I prepared a letter intended for the Portuguese people, which I still keep, with the words I wish to address to them when I leave our team for good.
At the end of the competition, right from the return flight from the United States, the president of the Federation asked me, insistently, to reconsider my decision to leave, because the FPF wanted me to continue.
He then asked me my opinion on the current coach, whom he was considering appointing, among other names he didnโt reveal to me.
I responded to the president of the Federation that, in my view, it would be the right choice.
Thatโs why, on the day the current coach was presented, I was genuinely happy about this appointment. It was the right choice, as the results confirm.
A few days later, the new coach contacted me for the first time, telling me that he wanted to meet me in person. I accepted, and we scheduled the meeting for the end of my vacation.
We met at the Cidade do Futebol, where my club was holding its training camp.
That day, the coach told me that he was counting on me and that my presence was fundamental to his project. He immediately presented me with a program for my participation. He told me that I would play the first and last match and that, to manage physical efforts, he would systematically make three to four substitutions per match.
At that moment, he mentioned the possibility that I wouldnโt travel with the team to Norway and Denmark. He suggested that I play the first match, stay in Portugal, then rejoin the group before the match at the Dragรฃo.
I immediately refused this proposal. It seemed obvious to me that I couldnโt accept it. It wasnโt because I wouldnโt play the away matches that I would stop fulfilling my role as captain. This privilege of staying in Portugal wouldnโt have been a good example.
The coach ultimately shared my analysis.
Simรฃo Coutinho, Al-Nassrโs sporting director, attended this conversation. He is the person under whose responsibility the current coach worked throughout the past season, and one of the people responsible for his recruitment by the club in 2025.
The day before the start of the gathering, the coach came to my home in Lisbon for another discussion, at his request. The conversation was calm, and all the principles agreed upon in August were maintained.
I played in the match at Alvalade and, despite being substituted, I didnโt raise any issues. I myself put the armband on Bruno Fernandesโs arm, far from imagining that I might be living my last moments as a player and captain of the national team. What mattered to me that day was our victory. Winning is always enjoyable; in Portugal and for my country, itโs even better.
At lunchtime on the day of the match in Norway, one of the coachโs assistants came to the table where the group was eating and informed me that the coach wanted to speak to me. To my great surprise, he asked me if I was fit to play thirty minutes. I was totally focused on my physical recovery, integrated into the group as always, and I thought I wouldnโt play that day. That didnโt bother me at all.
This request was outside my physical recovery and training program โ since I wasnโt supposed to play again until the 4th, at the Dragรฃo โ but I obviously said yes. He then told me to be ready, because I would play thirty minutes.
The rest, everyone knows it. I warmed up from halftime onward, I watched the minutes tick by, and I wasnโt called on.
The coach hadnโt kept his word to me.
PART 2 BELOWโฆ.โคต๏ธโคต๏ธ๐จ๐จ
The debate over whether Bhuvi deserves his place misses the bigger issue.
The worrying part is that we're going backwards and BCCI still hasn't identified or developed reliable long term bowlers from the domestic circuit
- Dropped after 2022 T20 WC Semi.
- Won the IPL 2025.
- Won the IPL 2026.
- Returning into T20I team after 4 years.
WELCOME BACK, BHUVNESHWAR KUMAR โค๏ธ๐