Ever since the IPL 2022 concluded on May 29, no seamer in the world has played more T20I matches than India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. This immense workload is the reason why he has bowled poorly in the death in recent games, opined Sanjay Manjrekar.
From the start of June, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who isn’t part of the ODI and Test sides, has featured in 20 T20Is; only Dinesh Karthik, who is also a T20 player for India, has played in more games (21 T20Is) than Bhuvneshwar.
After the IPL 2022 ended, India have played 23 T20Is – the most in the world; no other full member has played more than 13 – in preparation for the T20 World Cup. However, a major chink has emerged recently: death bowling.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been carted around for runs in the death overs in particular in the 19th overs – 19 runs vs Pakistan, 14 vs Sri Lanka, 16 vs Australia in the first T20I and 21 in the third T20I in the 18th over.
And even though Bumrah will hold one end in the death overs, and the other by either Arshdeep or Harshal, Bhuvneshwar’s poor returns is a big concern.
Sanjay Manjrekar feels that Bhuvneshwar has been burnt out by playing so many matches, especially for a pacer.
“With Bhuvneshwar Kumar, it’s never a very simple answer but you’ve got to give one of the simple answers and one of the main reasons why Bhuvi seems to be off the boil – is playing too much cricket. In the sense, that he’s played all the matches coming into this series as well,” Manjrekar told SPORTS18.
Then it is a good thing that Bhuvneshwar has been given a rest for the upcoming 3-T20I series against South Africa.
Manjrekar reckoned India need to also ponder and have their options ready beyond Harshal Patel as the third seamer.
“So, I’m going to put down Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s current performance to just match fatigue. Harshal Patel has limitations as a seam bowler, but India must look as one of the third seamer options and must look at a couple of others as options and I keep stressing on Mohammed Shami as the other option,” Manjrekar added.
