Bhuvneshwar Kumar struggled with pace deficiency during early part of his career even if he could swing the ball big. He took his time to develop the pace and added smarts as well. Not to forget his knuckle balls and wide yorkers, which made him a potent weapon at the death in white-ball cricket. His improvements helped him become India’s premier fast bowler across formats. But since 2019, he has had a rough ride due to a series of injuries. He has spent more months recovering from the niggles and injuries than playing international cricket.
Soon after the 2019 ODI World Cup, his troubled back kept him out and when he returned to full fitness by IPL 2020, his thigh began to give him issues. In the first half of IPL 2021 as well he had to miss a few matches due to the thigh muscle injury.
He is fit again and will be India’s leading bowler on the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka that kick-starts on 18 July in Colombo.
Breaking down the reason behind his streak of injuries in the last couple of years, former India pacer Ajit Agarkar said that Bhuvneshwar’s problems have a lot to do with how much he has bowled in his career, which is a lot.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been appointed as the vice-captain of the Men in Blue for the Sri Lanka series. Sportzpics
Speaking to journalists ahead of the India-Sri Lanka ODIs, he said, “I think it (the reason behind Bhuvneshwar’s injuries) is a combination of everything (international pressure of playing for a long time, mechanics of bowling). With certain bowlers, it is mechanics. Ideally, as a bowler, you want a clean action as it takes a lot of load off your body. You don’t exert as much pressure on your body. Everyone has some sort of deficiency or the other. Don’t think Bhuvneshwar Kumar has many. Don’t think over the years he has had so many injuries. I think it is only in the last couple of years and that can happen with wear and tear more than anything else.
“He has had a lot of bowling in his career. The pressure leads to injuries for someone new. But that is not in the case of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. I think it is the amount of bowling he has had in his career. As a bowler, you are going to get injured. It is part and parcel of the game. It is the most physical aspect of the game. You are likely to be under more pressure than batting or fielding.”
Agarkar said that he is hopeful that the 31-year-old pacer is aware of the enormous strain that pace bowling brings with itself at a certain age and that he is working on it.
“After a certain time, every bowler is aware that you are going to put your body through enormous strain. You got to try and watch out for that and perhaps recover well and train smarter. I am very interested to watch him bowl in the upcoming series. If he is at his best, he is a pick in my India T20 XI.”
The former India pacer reiterated that despite the injuries he has had, Bhuvneshwar has always maintained the quality and has not taken too much time to get back to his best. These are some reasons which make him a certain pick for the T20 World Cup later this year, but only if he maintains his fitness levels.
File image of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. AFP
“Sometimes, it can happen as when you are out for a long time due to injury you start tentatively. It happened with Bhuvneshwar during the England series but as the series went on, he got better and better. Unfortunately again in the IPL, he picked up a niggle. And even if he did not pick up many wickets in IPL, whatever games he played, he bowled well.”
Bhuvneshwar definitely brings a different dimension to the India bowling attack and Agarkar is curious to see how he is bowling in the upcoming games in Sri Lanka where he is expected to play in all matches.
“When you are confident in your body, you will go flat out. That is one thing I will be looking for in this series. It is the fitness that I will be watching in Bhuvneshwar Kumar. There are other options as well with Siraj there but Bhuvneshwar Kumar with his experience will be extremely handy if he can keep himself fit,” concluded Agarkar.
Watch the 1st ODI on 18 July 2021 LIVE on SONY TEN 1 and SONY SIX in English from 3.00 pm IST
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