Bhuvneshwar Kumar reveals how pace helped him become a complete bowler in 'later stages'

Team India and SunRisers Hyderabad pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar broke into the scene as a swing bowler. But over the years, he has also improved on his pace and that has made him all the more dangerous as batsmen find it a little more difficult to take him on.

Recently, Bhuvi has revealed that he didn't realise the need to add pace to his bowling in the first few years of his career.

'I was able to improve the pace': Bhuvneshwar Kumar

In a video posted on SunRisers Hyderabad's official Twitter handle, Bhuvneshwar said: "To be honest, the first couple of years I didn't realise pace is something that needs to be added. As I kept playing, I realised with the swing I need to improve my pace because bowling in late 120kph or just 130kph, batsmen were adjusting to the swing. So, I wanted to increase the pace, but I didn't know how to do it. That was the general trend to train hard and spend time in the gym.

"Fortunately, I was able to improve the pace and that really helped me in the later stages. So yes, when you have pace, not the express 140-plus, but bowling in the mid-130kph helps maintaining that swing and keep the batsman guessing."

Bhuvneshwar Kumar's cricketing career

Bhuvneshwar has been one of India's leading pacers across formats for a major part of the last decade. However, the right-arm quick's career in the longest format of the game has been severely hampered owing to different injuries. Bhuvi last played a Test match in January 2018 against South Africa in Johannesburg. Despite the fact that the conditions in England suit the pacer's bowling style, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to drop him when they had announced the  20-man squad earlier this month for the upcoming ICC World Test Championship Final against New Zealand and the subsequent five-match Test series in England. 

Bhuvneshwar Kumar's stats across formats make for a decent read. In 21 Tests, Bhuvi has bagged 63 wickets at an average of 26.1 with four fifers to his name. He also has 138 and 45 wickets each in 117 ODIs and 48 T20Is respectively.

He showed a spectacular performance against England in the T20I and ODI series earlier this year when he made a comeback after being out of action for several months. In the ODI series, he scalped 6 wickets in three matches. In the T20I series, Bhuvi bagged 4 wickets in 5 games and bowled with a great economy.

The bowler returned to play for SRH in IPL 2021. However, his form hasn't been the same as he could only grab three wickets in five matches at a dismal average of 57.66 and an economy rate of 9.10.

(With ANI Inputs)