Asia Cup 2022 | Bhuvneshwar Kumar struggles with pace in death overs, remarks Salman Butt

Bhuvneshwar Kumar sealed off his Asia Cup campaign with a fifer against Afghanistan brilliant with a fantastic spell in the powerplay. However, his death bowling in two crunch games against Pakistan and Sri Lanka are signs of worry. Bhuvneshwar was handed the penultimate over against Pakistan and conceded 19 runs which pushed the game away from the Indian team. He was given the same duty against Sri Lanka but the bowler faltered once again leaking too many runs. 

The bowler redeemed himself in the last game against Afghanistan but it will be interesting to see how he delivers in the white-ball series against Australia and South Africa. Former Pakistan cricketer Salaman Butt is of the opinion that Bhuvneshwar will not be a good option in T20 World Cup in Australia as he will not get much swing there and also lacks the pace to trouble batters in death overs. 

"Bhuvneshwar struggles with pace in death overs. He doesn't have pace, and that's why batters are not afraid of taking him on. I don't think he will be a good option for India at the T20 World Cup," Butt said on his YouTube channel.

“He is conceding a lot of runs in the death but taking wickets in the initial overs. The bowl is slightly swinging here (in the United Arab Emirates). However, good teams will easily negate this much swing. The bowling wasn't that difficult. Afghanistan's batters hit through the lines, and most of them are power hitters. They didn't have proper technique, and that's why they couldn't negate the swing.” 

Despite Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s struggle in slog overs, captain Rohit Sharma has backed the senior bowler in the team. He will be a vital cog for the Indian team in T20 World Cup and they will rely on him to regain his form before the commencement of the competition.