Virat Kohli backs Bhuvneshwar Kumar despite poor IPL stint, says 'experience will count'

Bhuveneshwar Kumar had not had the best of time with the ball while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2021.  Firstly, the Men in Orange finished at the bottom of the points table and Bhuvneshwar Kumar himself could only take six wickets from 11 matches played in the tournament at an economy of 7.97.

However, despite a not so impressive performance with the ball, Indian Cricket team skipper Virat Kohli has exerted confidence on the experienced pacer to do well during the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup.

T20 World Cup: Virat Kohli backs Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Speaking ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup, the Team India skipper asserted confidence in Bhuvneshwar Kumar to play well in the upcoming tournament. Kohli, during the interaction, said, "His economy rates still continue to be top-notch, something that he's always been known for and his experience comes to the fore under pressure. If you see the game that we (Royal Challengers) played against Sunrisers, the last game, where he had to close out the game against AB de Villiers, probably one of the two or three most destructive lower-order finishers in the T20 game." 

"It explained or spoke volumes of what experience Bhuvi brings on the field, whenever we play - just the understanding of hitting the areas, according to the dimensions of the field, and what balls to bowl at what time. Even the fact that he bowls lengths so well and so consistently, which is not an easy thing to get away (with) in T20 cricket, especially with the new ball. It's quite an underrated thing and I think his experience and accuracy has always been priceless for the team," Kohli added.

Team India squad for T20 World Cup

India will play their opening match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 24, at the Dubai International Stadium. India finds itself among Afghanistan, New Zealand, and Pakistan in Group 2 of the tournament. Here's a look at the Team India T20 World Cup squad.

Squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami

Stand-by players: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Axar Patel

Net-bowlers: Avesh Khan, Umran Malik, Harshal Patel, Lukman Meriwala, Venkatesh Iyer, Karn Sharma, Shahbaz Ahmed and K. Gowtham