Reports: Bhuneshwar Kumar likely to miss New Zealand tour

Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s injury woes have been a cause of concern for India for a long time now. He had recently made a comeback to competitive cricket in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. After proving his fitness, the pacer was picked for the West Indies T20Is. However, during the third match, he complained of pains and it has emerged that Bhuvi was carrying sportsman’s hernia all along which the doctors failed to notice.

He has already been ruled out of the ODI series against the West Indies and the questions are being raised over the way Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s injury has been managed. It took close to three months for him to recover from the adductor strain and if the sources are to be believed, the fast bowler was rushed back into the game.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar will now undergo surgery for Sports hernia which he has been carrying for almost three months now and then will undergo a two-month recovery period. This has put his participation in the New Zealand tour in doubt.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar might return for the IPL

“He will certainly miss the entire tour of New Zealand. Probably should be in a position to return to cricket only during the IPL, if all goes well,” the source close to the development was quoted as saying by the Times of India. As for the upcoming ODI series, Shardul Thakur has replaced Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the squad.

The final call on surgery is yet to be taken even as it has also been reported that the bowler was having tremendous pain in the hip and groin region. “He’ll have to go through one (surgery). That’s confirmed. The how, when and where is being worked out,” the source further added. Earlier, NCA had come under the scanner over messing up Wriddhiman Saha’s shoulder injury as well which kept the wicketkeeper out of action for a significant period.

“It’s not the first time that a cricketer carrying an injury has gone through something like this at the NCA. We all remember the Wriddhiman Saha episode, don’t we? His career was put in jeopardy, the way his recovery was handled,” the source said.

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