IPL 2018: Bhuvneshwar Kumar Credits Fitness for Adding Pace to His Arsenal

Bhuvneshwar Kumar who has added pace revealed it is because of his fitness. The Indian fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar always had the skill sets – to move the ball both ways in a bid to make things difficult for batsmen.

The 28-year-old Meerut-born Bhuvneshwar was lacking pace in his armory as the batsmen were getting more time to adjust to their stroke-making.

Since Bhunveshwar has added pace to his quiver of arrows, he has become a more deadly bowler to be precise.

Bhuvneshwar used to bowl around 128 kph in his early days of International cricket. However, after adding a couple of yards of pace, he has moved up the ranks.

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The Uttar Pradesh-based bowler is always right on the money. The experienced campaigner is known to hit the right areas and thus he is mighty effective in the white-ball cricket.

“I’ve always been able to swing it both ways,” Kumar told Wisden.com. 

“But I always wanted to add that pace, and I didn’t know how to. I worked with the trainers and the physios and what I’ve learnt is that it comes naturally with age and maturity. The pace I have now (is because) I am at the peak of my physical attributes right now. Everything comes from that physical maturity, it improved the pace a bit,” he added.

Bhuvneshwar also credited Indian Premier League (IPL) for his growth as a player. He is one of the finest death over specialists in the world as he hits the blockhole more often than not.

The Indian seam bowling all-rounder has scalped 87 wickets in the last four seasons of the IPL. Furthermore, he is the Purple Cap holder of the previous two editions.

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“The IPL has helped improve me as a bowler, especially in the death overs,” he said. 

“It’s a short format, but a long season and two months are never easy to play. If we’re to survive those two months, if you’ve to win the tournament, you’ve to do well – as a strike bowler, I really had to do well to ensure matches are won,” he added on.

Meanwhile, it is known that Sunrisers Hyderabad is without the services of their former skipper David Warner. Bhuvneshwar added that it won’t be fair to compare other players with him.

“It’s difficult to say he would have helped. He’s a very good batsman and has done very well for us in the last few years. But it wouldn’t be right for the other batsmen to say that having him would have helped,” said Kumar.

Bhuvneshwar is scaling new heights as a world-class fast bowler. The prominent Indian bowler will like to keep his improvement graph on the upward swing.

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