Indian seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has recently sparked speculations about his future in cricket by making a slight change to his Instagram bio. The 33-year-old removed the term “cricketer" from his bio, which previously identified him as an “Indian cricketer." His updated bio now mentions, “Indian (sic) Family First. Pet lover. Casual Gamer."
Bhuvneshwar’s absence from the Indian squad since November last year, with no reported injuries, has added to the mystery. He was dropped for the home series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka after playing a T20I in New Zealand. Despite featuring in all 14 games for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, the India pacer has not been seen in national colours. Earlier, injuries were cited as one of the reasons for Bhuvneshwar’s decline in the pecking order, despite being the second most successful bowler for India in T20Is, with 90 wickets from 87 matches, next to Yuzvendra Chahal.
Bhuvneshwar getting dropped from the team remains mystery, more so after his performance in 2022. He was the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 11 scalps and the only bowler to grab a five-wicket-haul, including a career-best of 5/4. He had an off-colour campaign for India at the T20 World Cup but finished the year as India's most successful bowler with 37 T20I wickets. Bhuvneshwar already does not play Tests, and has been sidelined from ODIs – last playing a game in January of 2022, but at 33 is far from done in T20Is.
