IPL was a much needed practice for the players ahead of the World Cup, says Bhuvneshwar Kumar

There were major concerns regarding the fitness of the players ahead of the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with the World Cup starting soon after the tournament. But according to Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the marquee T20 league was, in fact, a good platform for the players playing in the mega event to get into the groove.

As the IPL was almost a two-month long engagement, the management felt that the players who will fly to England for the ICC event players will require a justified ‘workload management’ so as to not hinder their performance in the World Cup. In fact the fitness of India’s main pacer, Jasprit Bumrah was a pressing concern too but all went well for him throughout the T20 league.

Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) recruit had a mediocre run in this year’s IPL as he managed to bag only 13 wickets in 15 outings for his team. However, his international form is far from being questionable. He finished as the leading wicket-taker in three-match ODI series during India’s tour of Australia with 8 dismissals that even included one four-wicket haul. 

Bhuvi speaks about how IPL has helped boost his confidence

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who is one of India’s frontline fast bowlers going into the World Cup, has opined that IPL has given a significant practice to the players ahead of the showpiece event which is just a couple of weeks away. “IPL has definitely given players the much-needed match practice before the World Cup.

“Once you have wickets and runs under your belt, the confidence levels automatically go up. For me, it was important to be in a good rhythm and be among wickets which I was able to do for Sunrisers Hyderabad,” he said while speaking to Cricbuzz.

The 29-year-old has represented the Men in Blue in 105 ODIs and has bagged 118 scalps. It will be exciting to watch how he performs for the Indian Team in England and Wales. India will begin their World Cup campaign when they take on South Africa towards the end of the first week of the tournament. The match is scheduled to be played on June 5 in Southampton.

[interaction id=”5cdad1a3df3c8d65e186cf16″]