By:

Umang Deshmukh

13 April 2025 at 9:05:10 pm

Return of the Swing King

After nearly four years in the air, Bhuvneshwar Kumar is back in India’s plans. Every swing bowler knows the feeling: the ball hangs in the air, and for a suspended moment, nobody can say which way it will go. For nearly four years, Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s international career seemed suspended in that moment. On October 6, the BCCI announced that the 36-year-old pacer had been included in India’s T20I squad for the five-match series in New Zealand. The opening match is scheduled to be played at...

min read

After nearly four years in the air, Bhuvneshwar Kumar is back in India’s plans. Every swing bowler knows the feeling: the ball hangs in the air, and for a suspended moment, nobody can say which way it will go. For nearly four years, Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s international career seemed suspended in that moment. On October 6, the BCCI announced that the 36-year-old pacer had been included in India’s T20I squad for the five-match series in New Zealand. The opening match is scheduled to be played at Hagley Oval, Christchurch, on October 22, with the series concluding on November 1. Meerut was where it all began for Bhuvneshwar. He joined the first coaching centre in the city when he was 13, after his sister took him along. Little did he know that this would eventually lead to him delivering the new ball for India. He made his international debut against Pakistan in December 2012 and was part of the squad that won the 2013 Champions Trophy. His strength, however, was never sheer pace. It lay in his ability to swing the ball both ways. He showcased this skill at Lord’s in 2014, taking 6 for 82. His performances also earned him Player of the Series honours on the England tour. But injuries continued to trouble him. A lower-back problem affected him during the 2018 ODI series in England, sidelining him for the first three tests. He also underwent surgery for a sports hernia in 2020, which kept him out of the tour of New Zealand that year. Nevertheless, he continued to make comebacks and was appointed India’s T20I vice-captain at the start of 2022. In September that year, he delivered one of the finest spells of his career, taking five wickets for four runs against Afghanistan in Dubai. His last assignment for India was in New Zealand in November 2022, following India’s T20 World Cup semi-final defeat by England in Adelaide. Bhuvi’s IPL performances strengthened his case for a recall. After taking 17 wickets in 14 matches for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2025, he produced a career-best season in 2026, claiming 28 wickets in 16 matches at an average of 17.89 and an economy rate of 7.95. His combined tally across the two seasons stood at 45 wickets in 30 matches. He was also the second-highest wicket-taker in the competition. Indian batting coach Sitanshu Kotak spoke about the selection decision on October 8. According to media reports, Kotak said Bhuvneshwar’s experience and impressive IPL performances could have influenced the decision to select him for the upcoming T20I fixtures in New Zealand. Kotak also spoke about the importance of Jasprit Bumrah’s experience, saying that the team had missed it during the recent England series. “We need that experience,” Kotak said, according to reports. “The youngsters need to learn from him. I think we need to give him that opportunity.” Bhuvneshwar will join a pace unit featuring Arshdeep Singh, Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav. Bumrah, meanwhile, has been rested, with Shreyas Iyer set to lead the side. The five-match T20I series will be part of India’s wider tour of New Zealand, which is also scheduled to include five ODIs and two Tests. It will be India’s first white-ball series in New Zealand since the 2022 tour. New Zealand’s conditions, where the new ball can swing, could also play to Bhuvneshwar’s strengths. He will be looking to add to his international wicket tally. The journey has come full circle for the Meerut lad who first walked into a coaching centre at 13. He made his international debut against Pakistan in December 2012, aged 22. Now 36, he is set to take on New Zealand once again, after a career marked by injuries and repeated comebacks. If he gets the nod in Christchurch, the delivery will finally land. But after nearly four years in the air, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has answered the question that mattered: the swing never left.

Another battle between Pawars on card

Quaid Najmi

Apr 23

3 min read

Jay desires to contest election in 2029; Rohit reacts strongly

Mumbai: Barely had the voting for Baramati Assembly by-election ended, a potential ‘Pawar versus Pawar’ battle in 2029 spooked the immediate contest in which Nationalist Congress Party President and Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra A. Pawar is the prime contender.

The by-poll itself – compelled by the demise of former NCP chief and ex-Dy.CM Ajit A. Pawar in January – witnessed a large turnout after an emotionally-charged campaign in which even bigwigs from the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) participated.

As the voting progressed, certain remarks from both NCP (SP) MLA Rohit R. Pawar and his cousin Jay A. Pawar, son of Sunetra, indicated that the future of Baramati politics would remain family-dominated, at least till the next Assembly elections in 2029.

Accompanying his mom to the polling centre, Jay claimed that pressure was mounting on him from the commoners and NCP workers urging him to contest the Baramati elections after 3 years.

People’s Desire

“It’s the demand from the party activists and the desire of the people that I should be a candidate in 2029. But from my heart, I wish to continue working as an ordinary party worker and serve everyone,” said Jay, hinting that he would be a reluctant contestant while sparking a mini-row.

Predicting a record voter turnout and a victory margin for his mother, he appealed to the voters to support Sunetra as enthusiastically as they had supported his father, the late Ajit Pawar in the past.

Quickly reacting to Jay’s utterances, Rohit also hinted at the likelihood of a face-off between family members in the next Assembly polls.

“We should heed the sentiments of the party workers and the people… Their party (NCP) is different from our (NCP-SP) party,” Rohit said, making it clear that political loyalties would remain separate despite close family ties.

Yugendra vs Jay

In the eventuality of Jay being fielded by the NCP in 2029, Rohit suggested that another cousin, Yugendra S. Pawar – son of Shrinivas A. Pawar, and nephew of Ajit Pawar – could be a prospective rival from the NCP (SP) – making it another ‘Pawar versus Pawar’ poll duel.

Baramati Assembly and Lok Sabha seats have in the past witnessed politically charged electoral battles between different family members of the Pawar clan, he reminded.

Nevertheless, Rohit also admitted how the masses frowned at such intra-family contests – as in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections - which divided virtually all families in Baramati while Sunetra Pawar and her ‘nanad’ Supriya Sule slugged it out at the hustings.

“It is not the desire of the people to see another ‘Pawar versus Pawar’ fight… There are certain political forces opposed to the Pawar Family which seem keen to foment such divisive contests and weaken its influence here,” Rohit declared.

Keeping the door ajar for a reconciliation between the NCP(SP)-NCP, he said it would be opposed, but the views of the workers, elected representatives and family members tend to complicate the issues, as ‘withdrawing from power’ is not an easy option – making it clear that both the parties would function independently at least for the present.

Shrinivas Pawar reprimands cousins

The statements by the cousins Jay and Rohit evoked sharp response from Shrinivas A. Pawar who pulled them up for raising decisive yet divisive futuristic issues during the polling today.

“What was the need to say all this now? Today is important and everyone has come out for ‘Dada’ (Ajit A. Pawar)… We must all remain united,” emphasised Shrinivas A. Pawar.

Chiding the younger cousin-siblings, Shrinivas said that “if you are aware that people don’t prefer such intra-family contests, why don’t you sit together and resolve these issues”.

Baramati, Rahuri see 50 pc voting

Bypoll to the Baramati assembly seat in Maharashtra's Pune district, where Deputy Chief Minister and NCP president Sunetra Pawar was in the fray, recorded a voter turnout of around 50 per cent till 5 pm on Thursday, officials said.

The voting percentage in Rahuri assembly constituency in Ahilyanagar district, which also saw a bypoll, was 50.74 per cent, they said.

Voting, which began at 7 am, concluded at 6 pm.

The Rahuri assembly seat became vacant after BJP MLA Shivaji Kardile's death in October last year. His son Akshay Kardile was in the fray as a BJP candidate from the seat, and was pitted against NCP (SP) candidate Govind Mokate and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi's Santosh Chalke.