Lack of first-class cricket a reason behind Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s exclusion from WTC final and England Tests

Bhuvneshwar last played a first-class match way back in January 2018.

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Bhuvneshwar Kumar
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Bhuvneshwar Kumar of India bowls. (Photo Source: Twitter)

The fact that Bhuvneshwar Kumar hasn’t played a first-class match for over three years might have prompted the national selectors to leave him out for the World Test Championship final and the five-match Test series against England. The pacer’s last red-ball match was against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg way back in January 2018.

From there on, he has donned the Indian jersey in plenty of ODIs and T20Is, but a Test cap has kept eluding him. With six Tests to be played from June to September, the selectors reckon that the 31-year-old Kumar doesn’t have the tenacity to survive the rigours of Test cricket.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar not fit to play the long format

“The selectors think that he is still not fit to play long format, especially on such a long tour,” a source was quoted as saying in The Times of India.

In 21 Tests since his debut back in 2013, Kumar has picked up 63 wickets with four five-wicket hauls to show for his efforts. In the upcoming tour of England, India have picked six pacers- Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma.

They also named Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna and Arzan Nagwaswalla as the three standby pacers. The WTC final against New Zealand gets underway on June 18 at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.

The Test series versus the Three Lions begins on August 4 with the last Test from September 10. The Trent Bridge, the Lord’s, Leeds, Kennington Oval and Old Trafford are the hosts for the games.

As far as Bhuvneshwar is concerned, he had won the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for March 2021 after his impressive show against England. He was the standout bowler and was chosen by the ICC voting academy and the fans.

“After what seemed like a really long and painful gap, I was delighted to be playing for India again. I used the time away to work on my fitness and skill and I am happy to be back taking wickets for my country,” Bhuvneshwar was quoted as saying.

“I would like to thank each and every person who helped me in this journey starting from my family and friends and my teammates. Also, a special thank you to the ICC voting academy and all the fans who voted for me and made me the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for March,” he added.

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