Sydney, Oct 28: Jasprit Bumrah’s absence no doubt is a huge loss but that never meant that the current bowling unit would deviate from its individual plans to over-compensate for the premier bowler’s absence, senior India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar said.
While Bumrah was ruled out of the T20 World Cup due to a back stress fracture, Bhuvneshwar himself had endured a tough time during the Asia Cup and the subsequent bilateral series as his performance in death overs came under the scanner.
However, the Meerut man has been in excellent rhythm overall and it was his first spell of incisive swing bowling that created pressure on Pakistan.
So did the bowling unit do anything extra to compensate for Bumrah’s absence? “The kind of bowler Bumrah is, certainly its a big loss for the team. It’s not as if we would have to do something extra that Bumrah isn’t around,” Bhuvneshwar told reporters in mixed zone after another tight show against the Netherlands.
“Even if Bumrah would have been around, we couldn’t have done those extra things. We are doing exactly what our strengths are.” When asked if the criticism about his Asia Cup death bowling had hurt him having done admirably well for India for a decade, Bhuvneshwar did give an impression that he wasn’t amused.
“Itni saalon mein ek baar ho gayi cheezein kharab. So ho gayi. Baat khatm. (In all these years, I have had this one off tournament. It’s happened. It’s done and dusted).
“Media and commentators can say a lot of things (about death bowling), but as a team we knew that we will have our share of ups and downs.
“T20 is a format where it could be tough for bowlers and even for batters if the track is difficult one. But since Asia Cup is a big event people do tend to assess you that much more.” Bhuvneshwar added he keeps away from social media during big events. (PTI)
