The fast bowling department of the current Indian team revolves around Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. The deadly duo has been instrumental in India’s rise to the top as they invariably contain the opposition batsmen with their lethal yorkers. However, injury problems have led to both players missing a considerable amount of matches in the past two years. First, it was Bhuvneshwar, and then injury struck Bumrah last year. But gradually they are making a comeback from injury.
India’s pack attack is now one of the best in the world and Bhuvneshwar is a crucial figure in the set-up along with Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav.
During a recent interview, Bhuvneshwar said he always had the ability to bowl yorkers but delivering in crunch moments is something that he learnt after joining the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) squad back in 2014.
“I always had the ability to bowl yorkers, but then I lost it. At Sunrisers Hyderabad, they wanted me to bowl at the start of the innings as well as at the end. The 14 matches I played in 2014, I learnt to handle pressure and that was a turning point,” Bhuvneshwar told Deep Das Gupta on Cricketbaazi show.
“I learnt new things, especially handling pressure at death bowling (during Sunrisers stint),” he added.
Bhuvneshwar, who has taken 132 ODI, 41 T20I and 63 Test wickets, believes that one of the reasons for the success of the Indian pace battery is the relationship they share which means they do not need to communicate much when attacking the opposition batting line-up.
“It doesn’t matter who is bowling from the other end. Because I have to do what I have to do, but since both Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah are senior players, in a few words we are able to communicate with each other what the batsman is trying to do. It is like our bowling partnership. We don’t have to tell each other much. We make a conscious effort to bowl well and maintain the pressure from both ends,” he said.
Talking about the current situation in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic and how is he keeping himself motivated, Bhuvneshwar said, “I was very motivated for the first 15 days of the lockdown. No one knew how long it would last and I didn’t have any equipment to exercise at home either. We thought things would get better in a couple of months. I did bodyweight workouts to keep myself fit. But after 15 days, I started finding it difficult to motivate myself. I then ordered equipment at home, and things have improved since. We, or I rather, generally give excuses that I don’t have enough time to improve my fitness. Even after the lockdown, if I give the same excuse, others will say that I only give excuses. So, I am working on coming out of this lockdown as a better version of myself. On-field performance is different, but I can work on my fitness, or my athletic ability, or gaining more strength. I have almost stopped playing PubG, but I still play PlayStation with my friends.”
