Bhuvneshwar Kumar vs Mohammed Shami: The Sportsrush explains who out of the two Indian pacers should play alongside Jasprit Bumrah.
Advertisement
With the biggest and most respected cricket tournament in the world just three weeks away from now, the game plans and strategising are in full fledge. The quadrennial tournament is the pinnacle of a cricketer’s career and as each side looks to put forward its best bid to stake a claim for the alluring trophy, the Indian team is no far behind.
Slated as one of the front-runners to lift the trophy and go all the distance, the Asian giants are a team that are held in massive reverence throughout the cricketing fraternity. After years, India have acquired a versatile pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami, three bowlers who have been the fulcrum of everything right the side has done.
While Jasprit Bumrah’s path to unprecedented success has seen him establish himself as one of the world’s best bowler, Bhuvneshwar and Shami are are two bowlers who’re also consistent enough. However, with the Indian side expected to go in with just two specialist pacers in the playing XI, they have a momentous decision to make.
IPL 2019 performance
Judging solely on the basis of their performances in the Indian Premier League, it’s Shami who undoubtedly far outweighs Bhuvneshwar. While Shami finds himself in fifth place in the list of highest wicket-takers, Bhuvneshwar is currently at No. 15.
This IPL has seen Bhuvneshwar lose his sheen and shine as a pivotal fast bowler, failing to hit the right line and length throughout the 15 matches he represented the Sunrisers Hyderabad. A major reason for his side’s rampant success over the years, Bhuvneshwar’s failure to resonate those same rousing performances made SRH a negated force on the bowling front.
It wasn’t just his lack of ability to get wickets but the incredible runs he gave away each match especially with his death over bowling becoming a debacle. He gave away 55 runs against KKR with 45 of those coming in the final two overs at an economy rate of 22.5. Having conceded 42 runs in his four overs yesterday, it brought an end to what has been an extremely dejecting campaign for him.
Overall performance in ODIs
The IPL doesn’t take away from Bhuvneshwar’s understated grace and sublime skill set. He has the best economy rate in the IPL at 6.03 in the powerplay over with 43 wickets in those overs and he features in the death overs as well with a staggering 69 wickets at 8.66 in his kitty. He’s worked on his bowling rigorously, getting the ball to pitch in all the requisite areas, cramping the batsmen up for room with pace, bounce and massive swing.
Bhuvneshwar’s recent form at the international stage in ODIs is what really makes his case for selection in India’s World Cup XI. In 2019 alone against Australia and New Zealand, he picked up a cumulative of 19 wickets, giving away just 425 runs as he crossed the symbolic milestone of 100 wickets as well.
On the other hand, Shami, who had a really good IPL has been in terrific form over the last year. Ever since regaining fitness after an injury that kept him out for a good period of time, the work Shami has put into his bowling has shown. It was a factor alluded to by Virat Kohli as well when the Indian side scripted a golden chapter in its cricketing books after defeating Australia in Australia in a test series for the first time in 71 years.
Shami has worked on his death bowling, an area where he lacked massively with the batsmen plundering him for runs all over. He’s heavily been involved among the wickets with his wicket to wicket bowling seeing him pick up wickets at regular intervals as he keeps mixing his deliveries around regularly to perturb batsmen.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar vs Mohammed Shami – Final Verdict
What swings the favour in Bhuvneshwar’s way is his massive experience in the game. He’s enjoyed a fruitful career for India, one that’s started heating its peak in recent times. He possesses in his artillery the ability to contribute vital runs with the bat as well, come thing that will come in handy for India on English pitches.
It’s the shape he gets on the ball and his ability to get the ball to deviate both into and away from the batsmen that make him our pick to be Bumrah’s compatriot.
