The Seam old story: Spoilt for choices

RANCHI: A Feeling of deja vu might be creeping into Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s mind. For long considered one of India’s most important ODI weapons, he shares a very strange relationship with the World Cup. Heading into the 2015 World Cup, though he was not in the best of form, conditons in Australia meant he was not overlooked in favour of other hit the deck bowlers. In fact, third choice seamer Mohit Sharma was preferred over the Uttar Pradesh seamer who eventually got to play a solitary game, an inconsequential tie against UAE.

This time the quadrennial showpiece is set to be held in England. Not long ago, he was the undisputed choice as the second pacer, but Mohammed Shami’s performances have made everybody sit up and take notice. The conditions are ideally suited for the swing bowler but is he the man to partner Jasprit Bumrah, especially with the kind of impact the Bengal pacer has had recently?

The 29-year-old did not have the best of 2018. He played 14 ODI matches and picked up just 11 wickets at an average of 48.81.

Injuries have, of course, not helped his cause. In the historic Test series win against Australia, Bhuvneshwar did not play a single match due to fitness issues. He couldn’t even get a look in a four-man pace attack in Perth.

Thanks to Bumrah receiving some much-needed rest, India had the chance to witness both Shami and Bhuvneshwar bowl together in tandem during the Australia and New Zealand series. Bhuvi, as he is popularly called, looked good against the Kangaroos in the ODI series, picking up 8 wickets in just 3 matches. Shami also chipped in with five. Then he went on to outperform Bhuvneshwar in New Zealand, picking up three wickets more than him this time and even at a better economy.

With the Meerut-native rested for the first two ODIs against Australia, Shami has again gr­a­bbed his chance and impr­e­ssed one and all with his impr­oved line and length, both at the start as well as at the death. He now has a fight on his hand to displace Shami from the starting XI, especially with on­ly three one-dayers left ahead of the World Cup.

On the face of it, Bhuvneshwar on Thursday put up a brave front when asked how difficult it is to get in and out of the side. “I’m not worried about who’s getting a chance and who’s not getting. More importantly, it’s about getting rest. Bumrah got to rest in New Zealand, I got to rest in this series. You want to be consistent and for that, you have to be fit. That’s the reason why I took rest,” he said on the eve of the third ODI here in Ranchi.

Bhuvneshwar’s ability has never be­en in doubt. His ability to swing the ball both the ways in any condition is proof of that, an invaluable trait to have in England. He is one of the few all-format bowlers India have (He is the first Indian player to take five-wicket hauls in all three formats). Yet, his ODI bowling average of 35.91 in 103 games takes some sh­een away from that while Sha­mi’s average is much better. His death bowling was an asset but recently, Shami’s improvement in that regard has really impressed the team management, something Kohli had admitted post the Hyderabad encounter. Incidentally, Shami has more wickets in the last ten overs of an innings than Bhuvneshwar while their economy rates are almost identical.

What might work in his favour though, is his ability with the bat. He is the only lower-order batsman (eight to 11) since the last World Cup to aggregate more than 100 runs. And he admits that he has been working on improving that aspect of his game even more.

“I practice different match situations with the coaches. How to give the strike if you are playing with a frontline batsman or to hog the strike while partnering someone lower down the order. Its important to improve in all aspects.”

Workload management

Bhuvneshwar hinted at the possibility of workload management for Indian players in the second half of the upcoming IPL, that begins from March 23, keeping in mind the upcoming World Cup.