The Indian fast-bowler has been a player rejuvenated since the beginning of the recent IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Heading into IPL 2022, Bhuvneshwar Kumar told Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) fast-bowling coach Dale Steyn a secret goal he had in mind for the season. Having won it in the 2016 and 2017 seasons, Bhuvneshwar wanted to regain the ‘Purple Cup’ awarded to the season’s highest wicket-taker.
While Bhuvneshwar didn’t achieve his desire – taking 12 wickets from 14 matches, albeit with an excellent economy rate of 7.34 on flat pitches – Steyn recalled the conversation he had with the veteran India quick to highlight how determined he was before re-entering the SRH set-up.
“I asked him [Bhuvneshwar] if he had got any goals for the IPL,” Steyn said on ESPNcrincinfo show T20 Time:Out, “and he secretly said to me, ‘I would like to win the purple cap again.’ And I was like this is fantastic. It just shows that this guy is determined and he wants to prove, not just to India but to the world, that he is still pretty much a force to reckon with.”
The conversation reflects bright on Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s self-confidence in the backdrop that he was going through a worrying decline with his game in the previous few seasons of the IPL. Battling injuries and affects of various rehabs, Bhuvneshwar endured wear and tear to his bowling and had an indifferent IPL 2020 and 2021.
But he stood rejuvenated for the 2022 season, reinforcing his status as SRH’s best quick and inarguably the second-best limited-overs quick in the country after Jasprit Bumrah. Bowling all the difficult overs for his team, the 32-year-old went for only 5.92 runs an over in the powerplay and had an economy rate of just 8.60 at the death.
“I think that kind of extends to what could potentially happen for him later on this year,” Steyn said of Bhuvneshwar’s regained mojo and confidence. “I mean he could really get a nod and go to the World Cup. He certainly understands his game, he knows when to train, he is confident in his skill and he has got these little goals that he didn’t really have to tell anybody but he would mention it every now and then that I could hear.”
The injury that Bhuvneshwar Kumar found the hardest to overcome is the one carried on his back since 2018, that also held his Test career back, sadly and threatened to put an unceremonious end to his limited-overs reign as well.
But Steyn unveiled how he managed that, as well as injuries to his hamstring and thigh injuries, throughout IPL 2022 and regained his optimum speeds, which rejuvenated new-ball swing and also his death-bowling expertise.
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“He didn’t really come to any training sessions [at the IPL] because he was just managing his body, trusting himself. The day of the game he would walk to the middle and bowl probably three to four overs of warm-up before the game started, and just be a true professional,” Steyn said.
“He might have been coming back from an injury but he managed himself so well through the IPL – played all the games and bowled well in all of the games and now is able to just carry on that kind of momentum,” he added on one of India’s finest ever limited-over bowlers.
