Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has urged India pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar to take a bit more risk with the ball in the ongoing T20I series in New Zealand. Irfan added that the veteran pacer has bowled a bit short in his comeback series and needs to be a bit fuller to be effective as well.

During a discussion on Cricinfo, Irfan said: “What I saw in the first two games, Bhuvi is slightly shorter. Still a good length, around 7-7.5 meter mark, but guys like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, they can afford to go slightly more fuller, depending on the kind of swing he’s getting. What happens when you play after a long period of time, your mindset becomes slightly defensive. He’s [anyways] not a very attacking bowler as far as the wicket-taking ability is concerned. The kind of wrist he has, the kind of swing he has, what I want him to do is to take a bit more risk, especially early on when he has a new ball.”

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Irfan admitted that making a return to international cricket is not easy even if one has been playing the IPL as well. He added that things would have been slightly easier for him had he made his comeback in familiar conditions in India as well.

“It’s not easy. Especially, you know that you have not played for many years for India. Obviously, you keep doing your work in the IPL, you keep performing really well. But that switch of playing for India at the top level and different pitches, if this was India, he would have been able to adjust it from the first match. But because you are playing overseas, you take time to adjust,” he concluded.