Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded 139 runs across three T20Is he played for one wicket.
The right-arm bowler, who returned to international cricket after nearly four years in the series, has not been at his best and is out of the side again.
India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss in Auckland and chose to bowl for the fourth time in a row in the series. He made two changes to the playing XI: Ishan Kishan returned from injury in place of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, and Mayank Yadav came in for Bhuvneshwar Kumar. However, Iyer didn’t explain whether Bhuvneshwar Kumar was dropped, rested, or rotated.
Kumar picked only one wicket since his return to the Indian team for the first three T20Is of the series but has conceded 139 runs overall.
Karthik said that he would have retained the 36-year-old player among his reserves and anticipates that he will rectify the mistake through his bowling if he gets a chance in the coming days.
“Personally, I would have persisted with him, knowing the pedigree he has. We don't know whether he is being rested and the bowlers are being rotated or whether he has been dropped. If he has been dropped, you can understand. He has played three games and bowled 12 overs, and it has not gone according to plan. He sets lofty standards for himself, and I don't think he has bowled up to the standards that he usually does,” Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
“He is not someone who is going to sit and moan about it. He will take it on his chin. Knowing him, he will come back stronger. If this means he is not a part of the squad from here on, then that is quite hard. I do feel that, with the kind of success he has shown and the consistency he has shown in a premier tournament like the IPL, he will warrant a few more chances; he deserves a few more chances, and when he gets those, I have no doubt that he will show the world how good he is,” Karthik elaborated.
Kumar was initially set to join the Indian squad in New Zealand for the T20Is but was included in the playing XI for the fifth and final T20I between India and the West Indies in Bengaluru. However, the game got washed out after India played 7.4 overs and Bhuvneshwar didn’t get a chance to bowl.
Ex-India batter Ambati Rayudu empathized with Bhuvneshwar Kumar regarding his troubles in international cricket. He was hopeful that the fast bowler would be able to keep himself calm and perform well after being dropped.
“I don't think he will do anything different. He is not someone who goes too high after a good [performance] or goes too low with failures, so he will keep his composure. He knows how to come back; he knows how to perform. Sometimes it happens when you are playing international cricket after a while. Things might not go as planned,” Rayudu said.
Mayank Yadav, who replaced Bhuvneshwar Kumar, picked 3/48 as New Zealand posted 259/7 in 20 overs thanks to Glenn Phillips’ 107 and 65 by Michael Bracewell.