Madan Lal feels, Bhuvneshwar will rise to challenge in WC
Bhuvneshwar, who suffered from a back injury that was hampering him during last year's IPL, has not been able to swing the ball the way he used to earlier.
New Delhi: Sunrisers Hyderabad's vice-captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be an integral part of India's World Cup squad, which will be held in England and Wales starting May 30.
The 29-year-old, who was once known for his swing bowling, has not been at his best in the last couple of months, however, former India fast bowler Madan Lal believes the pacer will deliver for India at the showpiece event.
In the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League, Bhuvi has just taken nine wickets in the 13 matches he has played so far. He has also been taken for plenty in many of the matches with his economy rate hovering around 8 in this season.
"He is performing okay in the ongoing IPL. He is one of our premier fast bowlers. He has a lot of experience and has performed in the past as well for the team. World Cup is a different game all together and I am pretty sure he will perform for the team in England," Lal said while talking about Bhuvi.
Bhuvneshwar had announced himself at the world stage in 2012 with a fantastic debut against Pakistan in a T20I where he returned with figures of 3/9. The highlight of his performance on that day was a terrific inswinger he had bowled to Nasir Jamshed which saw the stumps flying.
The right-arm medium pacer since then had been an integral part of the Indian set-up. Despite not having express pace, Bhuvi kept on taking wickets with his lethal inswinging deliveries, which all batsmen, especially right-handers, found difficult to deal with.
Bhuvneshwar was expected to start in all matches for the 2015 World Cup but could not due to poor fitness. He played in only one match against UAE. And 12 months ago, it was all but certain that he would be leading the Indian bowling attack at the World Cup in England. However, at present, it doesn't seem to be going that way.
Bhuvneshwar, who suffered from a back injury that was hampering him during last year's IPL, has not been able to swing the ball the way he used to earlier.
He had to miss the nine Test matches played in England and Australia, where he was all but certain to be a part of the playing XI. But, the team's silly decision to play him in the T20I series against England aggravated his back injury, as a result of which he missed the all-important Test series against England where Virat Kohli and boys were thrashed 1-4.
Ever since his return after the injury, the UP bowler has not been up to the mark. In the four international matches he has played so far in 2019, Bhuvneshwar has just taken two wickets.