Former Indian batter Abhinav Mukund asserted that it was the right call to bring the ace pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar into the Indian T20I set-up for the forthcoming New Zealand tour, which will commence on October 22.
Speaking during a discussion on Cricinfo, Mukund reckoned that the Indian team shouldn’t solely rely on the ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah, adding that the team requires more experience in their pace battery.
“You can’t just keep relying on Bumrah. I think the selectors stand in a place where they are thinking, okay, Bumrah is very good if we have to play him for Test match cricket and ODI cricket and T20 cricket. But you’re looking at someone to partner Arshdeep. So, Arshdeep’s primary role with Bumrah is for him to take the first over, which was his strength all this while. He’s had a lot of experience. They’ve groomed him along with Bumrah,” Mukund said.
“You’ve got Bhuvneshwar Kumar who’s back into the mix. When you have two or three inexperienced guys in a lineup, unfortunately for a captain who’s in his first year as a full international captain, it makes things hard. 2028 World Cup is in the first half. So, you definitely need to think of where you’re going with the squad balance and I think bringing Bhuvi back was the right call,” he added.
The Indian team management used Prince Yadav and Mayank Yadav in Bumrah’s absence in the just-concluded West Indies T20I series, which ended 2-2. Mukund stated that Prince looked comparatively more developed.
“Prince is slightly more developed. He has the ability to bowl with the new ball. He’s got the ability to bowl with the old ball, can do the reverse swing, can get better at bowling slower balls. Mayank is a raw pace. So, there is so much scope for development. Mayank needs to work on his slower ball; he needs to work on his yorkers. But all of this can be worked on and that’s where I think patience is very important,” he concluded.
