The veteran Indian pacer, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has a unique relationship with World Cups and like in the 2015 edition, there exists a strong possibility that he will again be cooling his heels for the better part of the upcoming showpiece. With Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami ready to share the new ball and a seam bowling all-rounder set to be part of the playing XI, Bhuvneshwar is again warming the bench for his second successive marquee event, starting in England from May 30. 

In Australia and New Zealand four years ago, Haryana’s Mohit Sharma, who was bowling better at that point of time, played and the UP seamer was used in an inconsequential game against the UAE. On Thursday, Bhuvneshwar put up a brave front when asked how difficult it is to get in and out of the side.

Talking about his place, Bhuvneshwar said, “I’m not worried about who’s getting a chance and who’s not getting. More importantly, it’s about getting rest. Shami got to rest in New Zealand, I got to rest in this series. You want to be consistent and for that, you want to be fit. That’s the reason why I took rest.”

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For Bhuvneshwar, the next three ODIs will be the match practice that he is looking at, as he is not considering IPL as a preparation platform.

Talking about the same, Bhuvi said, “Not necessarily IPL, but these three matches definitely, also because we can’t take any match lightly. Obviously, these are the crucial matches for us going into the World Cup. IPL is something… it’s where we polish our skills and be in form but ODI and T20I are totally different. So we are approaching these matches (ODIs) as the last before the World Cup.”

Not only Bumrah-Shami but the Bumrah-Bhuvneshwar combination has also been a successful one and he attributes the success to knowing their roles in the team. With the first two ODIs of the five-match series being low-scoring ones, Bhuvneshwar is well aware that his batting could come in handy.

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Talking about the same, Bhuvenshwar said, “If there are a few overs left and there’s a batsman with me, I try to give the strike to him and hit a few balls. If there are many overs left and not many wickets, I just try to give myself the best chance to stay so that we can score as many runs as possible. In my mind, I work out situations. Like how I should play if I bat for four overs or how should I approach myself if its 10 overs. These are things I work at the nets.”