Don’t know why Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was risked for third ODi, claims BCCI senior official

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been one of the stars of captain Virat Kohli’s young national team. Kumar has notched up a total of 30 wickets from 29 ODI matches under Kohli’s leadership with an impressive economy rate of 5.26. However, the swing-specialist has been battling with a back injury ever since the start of this year’s IPL season and wasn't included in the Test squad.

After head coach Ravi Shastri opted to leave the UP-born youngster out of the starting XI in the first two matches of the three-match ODI series, Bhuvi played against Eoin Morgan & Co. in the deciding game of the series that India eventually lost. But a major cause for concern was Kumar’s back injury, which has now aggravated during the encounter.

The injury meant that Kumar’s condition would be monitored by BCCI authorities with caution as they named an 18-member Test squad. BCCI officials also questioned the decision of team India physio Patrick Farhart and trainer Shankar Basu who cleared Bhuvi to participate in the final ODI despite a niggling back injury.

"The moment we are saying he has aggravated his injury, we are conceding that he wasn't fully fit. So if he is a vital cog in our Test match scheme of things, why was he risked for ODI. If you look at IPL, Bhuvi missed five out of 17 games for Sunrisers. The BCCI had asked the franchise to look after his workload management. Then he was rested for Afghanistan Test so that he gets time to recover for UK tour. But it seems something is amiss and that's quite baffling" a top BCCI official said while he spoke to PTI sources today.

In English weather conditions, Bhuvneshwar was considered to be a deadly weapon due to his success during the tour of 2014 when he starred both with bat and ball. In 21 Tests, the 28-year-old has taken 63 wickets and also been handy with the bat as he scored 552 runs.

"There are some questions that the team management needs to answer. If despite being given rest during the third T20 and the first two ODIs, he wasn't hundred percent fit, then why was he allowed to play? "Secondly, did Farhart report before the third ODI that playing him would be risking his injury?" the official questioned.