Irfan Pathan has said that the Indian team should refrain Bhuvneshwar Kumar from bowling at the death going forward.
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Australia defeated India by 4 wickets in the 1st match of the 3-match ODI series at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. The pitch was a belter for batting, and the batters of both sides provided a lot of entertainment to Mohali’s crowd. A total of 419 runs were made in the match.
The Indian batters did a brilliant job, and they scored 208-6 courtesy of an excellent knock from Hardik Pandya. However, the Indian bowlers again failed to impress, and India lost the match comfortably at the end. Axar Patel was the pick of the bowlers, and his figures were 4-0-17-3.
Australia needed 55 runs in the last five overs, and the Indian death bowling got exposed again. Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded a combined total of 31 runs in 17th and 19th over, whereas Harshal Patel conceded 22 runs in the 18th over.
Irfan Pathan suggests new role for Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Former Indian pacer Irfan Pathan has also criticized the performances of Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the death overs. He said Bhuvneshwar should only be allowed to bowl just one over in the last 5 overs of the match. The performance of Bhuvneshwar at their death is a big concern for the side.
“Saying this again use Bhuvi for only one over in last 5 overs,” Irfan Pathan tweeted.
This is not the first time that Bhuvneshwar has been leaking runs at the death, but the story was the same in the recent Asia Cup 2022 as well. In the Super-4 matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Bhuvneshwar had the same struggles. He did not bowl at the death against Afghanistan.
Against Pakistan, Bhuvneshwar conceded 19 runs in the 19th over, whereas he conceded 14 overs in the 19th over against Sri Lanka. On both occasions, India lost the match. Arshdeep Singh bowled the 20th over on both occasions, and the youngster bowled really well on those.
Apart from Irfan Pathan, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar also criticized the performance of Bhuvneshwar. He said that its a big concern that a senior player like Bhuvneshwar is leaking runs in every single game he is playing.
“It’s a real concern. When somebody like a Bhuvneshwar Kumar is going for so many runs every single time,” Sunil Gavaskar said to India Today.
