Indian bowling coach Morne Morkel spoke on the message given to veteran pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar following his return to the Indian setup after four years, with him having told the 36-year-old to “not chase anything and just be himself” and urged that he be allowed to find his feet back into the team for a few games. The 36-year-old Bhuvneshwar, who played a massive role in Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) back-to-back IPL title wins in the 2025 and 2026 seasons, returned to the Indian side for New Zealand T20Is to the delight of many Indian fans. However, with figures of 0/49 and 1/50 in the first two T20Is, the ‘Swing King’ has not delivered as per expectations after a blockbuster IPL 2026, where he emerged as the joint second-highest wicket-taker, taking 28 scalps in 16 matches.
Speaking to reporters about Bhuvneshwar’s return, Morkel spoke of the expectation factor and the amount of time Bhuvneshwar had to train for his return to international cricket after four long years.
“I have got a lot of sympathy for his return. You know, the reason why I say that is that there will be expectations after 4 years to come out. He has done exceptionally well in the IPL; he has bowled really well. One is to block the expectation factor out. Leading into, you know, his selection. I mean, there was a month of cricket where, yes, he trained, but this is a different beast coming and playing international cricket where the margins are small. So he had to come in with limited training because of the schedule, get himself ready,” he said.
“So the skill and, you know, his experience, everything is there, but at the end of the day, you know, you have to respect the game of cricket, and you have to be able to allow him to just find his feet in some of the games. And for me, that has been the message from the start when he joined the squad: you know, do not chase anything, just be you.”
“You know, yes, there will be expectations, but let us just— every game you will get better and every game you will find your rhythm. So let’s not think about any outside noises. Just be you and connect with that,” he continued.
On playing Prince Yadav instead of Mayank Yadav in the second T20I, where the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) star delivered returns of 1/30 in four overs, Morkel said that it was a merely tactical change, keeping in mind some factors: the ball getting wet while bowling second due to dew, the dimensions of the field and the importance of yorkers. He also spoke on the importance of giving Mayank some time away from the field to reflect on his bowling, pointing out how raw he still is in terms of setting up an over.
“That was just purely a tactical sort of change we felt was needed at that venue. It is no secret that Prince, at the death, he is bowling his yorkers, is somebody that executes that quite well, and it was sort of just felt that if we had to bowl second and the ball is wet and, you know, taking into consideration the dimensions of the field, we wanted a guy with a high percentage of nailing the yorkers,” he said.
“I felt Mayank bowled really well in that game (the first T20I, conceding 1/40 in four overs), you know, in that first game. So it is definitely not because of performance (that Mayank sat out). But again, Mayank, for me, I think it is sometimes good for a young boy like that to play a game, give him a little bit of time to reflect, understand bowling, because he is still raw and he still needs to understand a lot in terms of how to read and how to set up an over.
So I think for a young boy, that is not a bad thing. And then Prince, obviously, you know, he can bowl for us again in all phases of the game, and his execution is just slightly higher,” he signed off.
