Bhuvneshwar Kumar almost missed the first test match against South Africa

Lead Indian seamer, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, troubled the South African batsmen on the first day of the opening Test at Cape Town, picking three wickets in his opening three overs. The pacer recorded impressive figures of 4-87 and 2-33, contributing to a strong bowling performance from India.

Nevertheless, Times of India has reported that the right-arm seamer would have missed out on the Cape Town test, if fellow pacer Ishant Sharma had not fallen ill a day before the toss. It was reported that Ishant woke up on the morning of the Test with a severe headache and fever.

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With the team management revealing Jasprit Bumrah’s Test debut before the game, only one of Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar would have gotten a place in the starting XI.

It was the latter who got the nod, as he reduced the strong South African line-up to 12-3 in the first 5 overs of the match. Kumar also managed scores of 25 and 13 not out with the bat, making a good partnership with Hardik Pandya in the first innings.

On the other hand, debutant Jasprit Bumrah conceded a few runs in the first innings, recording figures of 1-73. However, the pacer made a comeback in the second innings, picking up 3-39, claiming wickets of AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis.

“His [Bumrah’s] clarity of mind is everything about him,” sources close to the fast-bowler revealed. “The only thing that Bumrah does off the field is focus on how he bowled, and how he should have bowled. The best thing about him is his ability to distance himself from any kind of distraction.”

If the report of Ishant Sharma being favoured over Bhuvneshwar is true, it would have been one of the weirdest decisions by the team management. Bhuvi recently managed 8 wickets in the Kolkata game against Sri Lanka, picking up 4-8 in the second innings to give India a chance of winning the game.

In this situation, it would have been a bizarre decision by the management. Preferring Ishant Sharma over Jasprit Bumrah would have been a more reasonable choice, but choosing Sharma over Bhuvneshwar would have been a huge mistake.