Can Bhuvneshwar Kumar find a way back into the Indian team?

With the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel not considering Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the five-match T20Is series against the West Indies despite the 16 wickets he claimed for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2023, one wonders whether his time with the national squad is coming to an end.

There was an earlier indication when the BCCI dropped him from the central contracts list in March. His age as well as loss of pace and swing seem to have dented his chances of making it to Team India ahead of younger bowlers Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar, who will all be part of India's attack in the West Indies.

Former Test spinner and a member of the selection committee, Gopal Sharma, feels that even at the age of 33, Bhuvneshwar still can play for a few more years and stake his claim for a sport in the national side. But for that to happen, the bowler needs to play in the domestic circuit as that’s the only place where he can impress the selectors with his performance.

“It’s tough but not impossible for Bhuvneshwar to stage a comeback in Team India as the present lot of pace bowlers are doing well for the country. What he needs to do now is to play in the domestic circuit and give his best to draw the attention of the selectors,” said Sharma on Thursday.

One of the goals of the new selection committee will be to build the team for the future. In such a scenario, Bhuvneshwar isn't the best fit. After playing his last Test match in 2018 against South Africa, the bowler from Meerut played his last international match, a T20 against New Zealand in November 2022.

Bhuvneshwar has played all three formats for India and has taken 63 wickets in 21 Tests, 141 wickets in 121 ODIs and 90 wickets in 87 T20Is matches.

“It would be his (Bhuvi’s) decision to quit the game but I feel that he has still got the ability to play for Team India. For that, he needs to prove his class in the domestic matches, especially in Ranji Trophy, as I still find him a bowler for big occasions,” former India cricketer and UP’s Ranji Trophy skipper Gyanendra Pandey said.

Frequent injuries to Bhuvneshwar also hurt his chances badly and that has seen his feature for the Indian team infrequently. Due to an injury in 2018, Bhuvneshwar fell out of favour for the Test matches and he hasn't managed to make it back to the squad since then. Now he is being dropped from the ODI and T20 teams as well.

Bhuvneshwar’s image of being one of the best bowlers in the death overs too was hit hard when in the Asia Cup, Pakistan batters struck him 19 runs in the 19th over and was struck for 14 runs in his last over by Sri Lankans then. Though Bhuvneshwar remained the highest wicket-taker in this year as he took 37 wickets in 32 T20 matches with 5/4 being his best, his bowling was not the same as before.

“Bhuvneshwar is still the best swing bowler India has and who can take wickets for Team India. Speed doesn’t make any difference in my opinion and I still believe that a lot of cricket is still left in Bhuvi,” his childhood coach Sanjay Rastogi said on Thursday.

“He has been a consistent performer in all formats of the game. Even recently, he performed well in the IPL, and I believe that he still has got the potential. Judging him only by his performance in death overs shouldn’t be the criteria as it happens with all bowlers in the T20 game,” said Rastogi, adding, “He has the art to swing the ball for wickets, and his ability to identify the area on a pitch to swing the ball, is something amazing.”

KNOW BHUVI

Age: 33 years

Hails from: Meerut

Debut in T20: December 25, 2012

Debut in ODI: December 30, 2012

Debut in Test: February 22, 2013

BOWLING STATS

Tests M21 W63 ECO 2.94

ODIs M121 W141ECO 5.08

T20Is M M87 W90 ECO 6.96

FC M70 W218ECO 2.80

List A M168 W208 ECO 4.84

T20 M263 W272 ECO 7.21