Should Bhuvneshwar Kumar still be playing in T20Is for India?

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is one of India’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is. Bhuvneshwar Kumar greeted international cricket with a rousing welcome. He bowled Nasir Jamshed in his first international over and Mohammad Hafeez in his first ODI delivery. In fact, his swing was the talking point in the last bilateral series between India and Pakistan. Over the years he developed his death bowling and also increased his pace. That showed in his IPL performances as he won back-to-back purple caps for SRH. But injuries have meant that his pace has gone down and his accuracy at death has diminished. In this piece, we deep dive into his numbers in various phases of the game.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the powerplay

There is no one better than Bhuvi in the powerplay this year. He has picked up 21 wickets in 31 innings at a very good economy rate of just 5.62. His dot ball percentage in the powerplay has been more than 60 per cent.

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In IPL 2022, he gave away runs at only 6.29 but picked up just 3 wickets. That was probably one of the reasons that SRH despite winning the first 5 of their 6 games, could not qualify for the playoffs. In the T20 WC in Australia, he was again economical (5.56)in the powerplay but picked up just 2 wickets in 6 innings. But Bhuvi’s effectiveness after the powerplay has been poor.

Bhuvi in the middle overs (7-15)

Bhuvi generally bowls 2 up front, 1 in the middle overs (7-15) and 1 at the death. Even in 2022 he has bolwed 9 overs in 9 innings in this period this year and has picked up just 2 wickets. His dot ball percentage reduces to just 33 percent.

As far as IPL 2022 is concerned Bhuvi bowled just 3 overs in this period in 14 games, so not much can be gauged from there. In IPL 2021 as well he bowled just the 3 overs which indicates that his franchise preferred to use him in the death overs. In the T20 Wolrd Cup 2022, he did not bowl a single over in this period.

Bhuvneshar Kumar at the death overs (16-20)

Bhuvi’s numbers in the death overs this year has not been good. He has just 14 wickets in 18 innings at an ecomonay rate of 10.41.

His numbers in the death over in 2021 was much better. He gave away runs at only 7.70 and did his job.

Bhuvi’s death over bowling has not been bad only in international cricket. But in the IPL as well he struggled to pick wickets at the death despite having a reasonable economy of 8.79.

Bhuvi’s ineffectiveness at the death in international cricket in 2022 meant that in the T20 World Cup 2022 he bowled just 2.4 overs in this phase and gave away runs at 9.75. The question now is that the Indian team now knows what Bhuvi provides them with, so should the team continue with him inninternational cricket or try out new players? He will be playing in the IPL and if he does well there he can always be called back to the side if need be. But considering the next T20 WC is still some 18 months away, some other bowlers could be tried in his place. Only time will tell if the Indian team management takes that tough call.