Live Cricket Score Ball By Ball
After the Champions Trophy and the subsequent tour of the West Indies in 2017, it was quite clear that the Indian team management was looking at different bowling attacks for different formats - it helped that they had the alternatives, in the pace and spin departments. And Bhuvneshwar Kumar, India's top bowler in that Champions Trophy in terms of wickets and economy rate, was a big part of those plans, especially in limited-overs cricket, where he and Jasprit Bumrah were the preferred top two. Injuries, however, often forced him to miss Tests. Sometimes, he missed out because of conditions - Bhuvneshwar has always been at his best when it swings - too. That was until he travelled with India to South Africa for the Test series Live Cricket Score Ball By Ball. He played the first Test, in Cape Town, and picked up six wickets. But India lost. He was left out of the second game, which also India lost, but returned for the third, in Johannesburg. And on a treacherous surface, returned 3 for 44 and 1 for 39, looking unplayable at times - so much that he often missed the edges. He also scored 30 and 33 to take home the match award as India won by 63 runs. But 18 months on, his number of Test appearances remains stuck at 21. That Johannesburg game his last. His name doesn't even figure in India's squad for the upcoming Tests at home against South Africa. Not even once Bumrah was ruled out with injury, with Umesh Yadav getting the nod.
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