South African fast-bowling great Dale Steyn believes Bhuvneshwar Kumar is back to his very best. For Steyn, the veteran India quick has regained a level of confidence, which he was perhaps lacking a couple of months before.
Steyn’s remarks for Bhuvneshwar came after his terrific spell in the second T20I versus his countrymen in Cuttack on June 12. Relishing the new-ball duties, Bhuvneshwar rocked the visitors hard with a three-wicket burst inside the powerplay. His exploits gave India a sniff to potentially win despite posting a less-than-ideal 148/6 as he eventually finished with figures of 4 for 13 off 4 overs.
In many ways, it was a continuation of a recovery theme to Bhuvneshwar’s bowling since the start of IPL 2022 with Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he got the chance to work with Steyn, the fast-bowling coach.
After two indifferent seasons of the IPL – which also led to a lack of retention from SRH and a subsequent dip in his auction sum – Bhuvneshwar responded to his naysayers with a campaign where he reinforced his status as the 2016 champion’s best bowler.
Playing all 14 games for the ‘Orange Army’, the 32-year-old bagged 12 wickets at an economy rate of just 7.34 on good batting pitches in Mumbai and Pune. Bowling all the difficult overs, Bhuvneshwar had a powerplay economy rate of 5.92 and went for a highly respectable 8.60 at the death.
“It’s not easy to run in and bowl those knuckle balls. It takes a lot of confidence and skill to bowl a knuckle ball.
And Bhuvi has clearly got all of that. It’s no surprise that he has bowled as well as he has tonight. He is that good,”
Steyn said on ESPNcricinfo show T20 Time:Out.
Resurrecting his fitness standards has also helped Bhuvneshwar stand rejuvenated as a fast-bowler, with Steyn highlighting enhanced speeds that the fast-bowler is operating with than from the time before the IPL when India played him only one match of the 2021 T20 World Cup.
“He was lacking something a couple of months ago and he seems to have found it now. He looks a lot more confident now.
He was operating between that 125 to 130kph, especially at the T20 World Cup in Dubai [the UAE]. When we got to the IPL, he seemed to have upped his pace a little bit. He was operating between 133 and 137, sometimes touching 140, you know the one odd ball.
He played every game at the IPL. He knew he was going to play and he was able to showcase his skills. He got some rhythm, he got some form, and bang,”
he added.
Steyn revealed on the show that Bhuvneshwar had set out a goal to end as this IPL’s top wicket-taker. But even as that didn’t happen, the legend said SRH’s lead pacer had many reasons to feel chuffed over the work he put in for the Sunrisers.
Steyn added he can feel a sense of determination in Bhuvneshwar’s eyes and body language that would help him reassert his standing in the Indian side ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia in November.
With Jasprit Bumrah leading the pace pack and slowly but surely Harshal Patel, too, becoming an incumbent, Bhuvneshwar is fighting for the third seamer’s role in India’s first XI.
