Bhuvneshwar Kumar credits IPL for improvement in his bowling in the death overs

Kumar revealed that he has been working on his death bowling and batting

India’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar is looking forward to helping out the team with his death bowling experience, BCCI.TV reports. The 25-year-old acknowledged that it’s upto the team management to decide on his inclusion in the team but added that he is all geared up for the challenge.

The right-arm medium pacer was not selected for the recent Test series against Sri Lanka but he has been named in both the T20 squad and the ODI squad for the first three-matches. Kumar admitted that he is unsure whether he will make it to the playing eleven, but is no leaving no stone unturned in his preparations for the series.

“It is up to the team management to decide who plays and who doesn’t. During the Sri Lanka series while I sat out, I was planning ahead for the home season, asking myself in what way I can improve to help the team in the coming matches,” Bhuvi told BCCI.TV.

“We are starting with the T20Is, so being a bowler, I am working a lot on my variations. It was a long break for the team. The preparations are different when you are coming after a layoff because it takes time to get back into the game mode. Everyone here is working on the specifics of their game and it is helping us a lot.”

One area where Kumar has greatly improved in recent times is in his bowling in the death overs as was evident when he bowled the 50^th over in the first ODI against Zimbabwe in July helping India achieve a narrow 4-run victory over the hosts.

He revelaed that it was an area he focussed on conciously and is happy that the results are now starting to show.

“Death bowling was an aspect I wasn’t very good at when I started playing international cricket,” Bhuvi said. “And I was very keen on getting better at succeeding with the old ball in limited overs cricket. I always worked hard at it but as you play, you grow and learn about your own game. That’s when you figure out how you can develop certain aspects of your game in lesser time.”

Kumar bowled superbly in IPL 8 as well and he believes the T20 league has played a crucial role in him improving his bowling at the death.

“In this regards, IPL helped me a lot. In IPL as a specialist bowler, you have to bowl in the death overs; there is no way out. That experience helped me gradually improve as a death bowler. My confidence really god boosted when I bowled well in the death during the Zimbabwe series. I got that belief that I can do it at the international level as well. That will bode well for me and the team in the South Africa series,” Kumar said.

Another area which Kumar has laid emphasis on is his batting. He did well in England and Australia with the bat and is fully aware that the tailenders in the team should also contibute with the bat, especially in Test matches with skipper Virat Kohli’s preference to play five bowlers.

“Batting is an aspect I always work on,” he said. “The team management also backs me in that regards and encourages me to bat more in the nets. If we want to play with five bowlers (in Test matches), it is very important for the lower order to score some runs. Every time our lower order has contributed with the bat, we have done well,” Kumar said.