‘He does magic with new ball, bowls long spells’: Chopra names bowler whom India is ‘definitely missing’ in WTC Final

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra opined that pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar could have played the out-and-out swing bowler’s role like Kiwi bowlers

Former cricketer Aakash Chopra believes that India is missing Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship against New Zealand at the Rose Bowl, Southampton. His statement comes after the Indian pace trio of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah wasn't getting enough swing against the Kiwi batsmen on the third day's play.

Aakash Chopra: File Image (Twitter)

In his latest YouTube video, Chopra opined that Bhuvneshwar could have played the out-and-out swing bowler’s role like Kiwi bowlers. Answering a fan’s question in his video, the cricketer-turned-commentator said, “India is definitely missing Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He has three special aspects as well. Firstly, he does magic with the new ball. Secondly, he bowls the long spells.”

“And the third thing is that he can bat as well. He could have done everything for Team India,” he added.

Chopra further said that Ishant is the only Indian pacer who gets decent swing. On the other hand, Shami and Bumrah majorly rely on seam movement.

“Swinging conditions can only be utilized if the ball leaves your hand accordingly. We saw Colin de Grandhomme getting a lot of swing, then Southee, Jamieson and Trent Boult, Ishant Sharma is still somewhere close but the other two are far behind. They don't swing the ball, they are seam bowlers,” Chopra said.

“Whoever is quicker in the air, he gets slightly lesser swing. A seam bowler is not a swing bowler. To get the swing, you need to tilt the seam slightly and Bhuvneshwar Kumar does that thing very nicely. I would say you could have considered both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar for this tour of England,” he added.

Bhuvneshwar was India’s key bowler in their 2014 tour of England. He picked up 19 wickets in the five Tests and also contributed 247 runs with the bat, including three fifties. The right-arm quick will be travelling to Sri Lanka as vice-captain of a second-string Indian side for a 3-match ODI series and as many T20Is, to be played next month.