Bhuvneshwar Kumar is not playing: Player of the Series in the recently concluded T20I series isn’t playing the first ODI for India.
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India fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami have defended captain Rohit Sharma’s decision of bowling first in the ongoing first ODI of India’s tour of England 2022 at The Oval.
Opening the bowling with Shami, Bumrah drew first blood as England opening batter Jason Roy (0) played a full delivery back to his stumps. Roy, who had returned with scores of 4, 0 and 27 in the recently concluded T20I series, continues his lean patch with a third single-digit score in the last one week.
Playing an ODI after more than a year, England batter Joe Root (0) also failed to get off the mark as extra bounce off a Bumrah delivery saw him edging the ball to Rishabh Pant behind the wickets. Appearing to be confused between playing and leaving, Root was a tad bit late to take a decision which led to his dismissal.
Having watched Bumrah pick a couple of wickets in his first over itself, Shami took inspiration from his new-ball bowling partner sending England all-rounder Ben Stokes (0) back to the pavilion in his second over. Stokes, who is also playing an ODI after a year, ended up inside-edging an in-swinging delivery only to be taken brilliantly behind the wickets by Pant.
Why Bhuvneshwar Kumar is not playing today vs England?
Shami and Bumrah’s assault with the new ball reduced the hosts to 7/3 within three overs. As a result, not letting India and their fans miss pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Player of the Series in the T20I series, Kumar isn’t playing this match because of not being part of a 17-member ODI squad. Kumar, 32, had played the last of his 121 ODIs in South Africa earlier this year.
In spite of his supreme T20I form lately, Kumar hasn’t been able to impress the selectors regarding staging an ODI comeback after being dropped since West Indies ODIs at home in February.
Since the start of 2021, Kumar has picked nine wickets in seven ODIs at an average of 42.55, an economy rate of 5.80 and a strike rate of 44.
