Would Have Included Bhuvneshwar Kumar in India’s Playing XI for WTC Final: Sunil Gavaskar
Bhuvneshwar Kumar made a return to the Indian team from injury and put up a good performance against England earlier this year. He also featured for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League before it was postponed due to a breach in bio-bubble.
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar on Monday stated that he would have picked Bhuvneshwar Kumar in India's playing XI for the World Test Championship final against New Zealand. Reasoning his statement, Gavaskar said that June is a rainy month in England and Kumar, with his ability to swing the ball would have been ideal for the conditions. The 71-year old made these comments in light of India's toothless bowling in New Zealand's innings. In comparison to New Zealand's bowling, the Indian trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami were unable to cause problems for the Kiwi batsmen on the third day. IND vs NZ WTC Final 2021: Jasprit Bumrah Seen Wearing Wrong Jersey on Fifth Day
Instead, India found an unlikely hero in Ravichandran Ashwin, who got the breakthrough by dismissing Tom Latham. Sharma dismissed Devon Conway late on day three.
"He (Bhuvneshwar) did play the IPL this time around and there wasn't any injury concern. He did pull out of the September-October IPL but not this time. I would have included him just for this Test match because it is being played in June," said Gavaskar.
One of the highlights of the ongoing World Test Championship has been that rain-interruptions. The first and fourth days were completely washed out, in addition to rain delays and stoppage due to bad light on the third day.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 22, 2021 06:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).