Australia vs India 2018/19: 5 Reasons Why Bhuvneshwar Kumar should have played Perth Test
In a match between Pune Warriors India and Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2012, Chris Gayle hit one of his most effortless four sixes in an over, the bowler was a medium-height, skinny fast bowler of average pace, who I thought was one of the many ambitious Indian pacers trying their luck in IPL, this was the first memory of Bhuvneshwar Kumar for many cricket lovers.
Bhuvneshwar made his international debut in a high octane Indo-Pak 2012-13 series. He instantly impressed everyone with his big booming in-swingers, But the impression you got, from his bowling, was that he was just a refined version of Praveen Kumar.
Fast forward to present and Bhuvneswar Kumar is of one the most improved cricketer in the world. He has not only increased his pace but has developed himself into one of the best all format fast bowler from his generation. His death bowling skills are as good as his new bowl skills.
In Perth, on a pitch with a fair amount of grass, India wanted to go with all pace attack, but Umesh Yadav was preferred over Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The decision sounded fallacious to everyone, therefore, here are five reasons why Bhuvneshwar should have played the Perth test.
India's best fast bowler in the last five years
Yes, you heard it right, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been India's best test fast bowler in the last five years. In the last five years, for a minimum of ten matches played, he has the best test bowling average, economy, strike rate, and second most five-wicket hauls after Ishant Sharma, although, Ishant has played more than double the matches than Bhuvi.
Favourable conditions for Bhuvi
There are not many pacers in the world who could match Bhuvi's ability to exploit seaming conditions. He is in a rare category of pacers who can swing the ball both ways with control. Although we can disagree with it, there is a tagline attached with Bhuvi that he is only a green/seaming conditions bowler, therefore, if that was the case, then why he was not picked for the test.
Australia's Troubled Past with swing and seam
In the last decade, Australians batsmen's ability to bat in swinging and seaming conditions has been found wanting. English Pacers in the past, have exploited this very weakness very smartly in the ashes series 2013 and 2015 and there is no doubt that they will again try to capitalize on it in the coming ashes 2019. Therefore, there was a no logical reason for benching a bowler who is known for making the most of the seaming conditions.
Umesh's bad record overseas
Umesh Yadav is a kind of bowler who rarely performs on overseas pitches. Umesh actually flourishes on Asian pitches. His pace, ability to bowl reverse swing and slinging action makes him more effective in sub-continent conditions. On the other hand, Bhuvneshwar has a quite similar record in both home and away conditions. He has performed on both seaming/bouncy and Asian pitches.
Batting Ability
As we saw in the Perth test, the batting contribution of your number 8 to 11 holds great importance. India's tail scored a total of 11 runs in the match while their Australians counterpart scored 71 runs. In the absence of R Ashwin, India's tail was significantly weakened, and the inclusion of Bhuvneshwar could have added much-needed stability in the lower order.
Bhuvneshwar's batting technique is very much suitable for seaming conditions and in the past also, he has been part of important lower-order partnerships. There is an interesting fact for readers here, bhuvneshwar Kumar's last test match for India was Johannesburg test, which India won by 63 runs, and bhuvneshwar Kumar's runs tally in that match was also 63, and he was rightly awarded the man of the match award for his all-round performance. Don't think anything else can signify Bhuvneshwar's batting importance than this fact.