Asia Cup 2018: 5 Team India members who have something to prove

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Sultan of Swing

I wish Bhuvneshwar Kumar had been fit for the Test series in England.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar likely wishes he had been fit for the Test series in England

The team management certainly wished that Bhuvneshwar Kumar had been fit for the Test series in England.

But if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. And, India might have won the Test series in England.

They say you don't know what you have got until it has gone. India badly missed Kumar's swing, control, and guile in England. New-ball partner Jasprit Bumrah returned with a vengeance in the last three Test matches, showing everybody just what they had missed. Now, it is time for Bhuvneshwar Kumar to do the same.

He is an excellent fast bowler by any standards, and that is saying a lot. For years, Team India has wished for a fast bowler that was excellent even by Indian standards; we yearned for another Kapil Dev or Javagal Srinath, but would have happily settled for another Madan Lal or Ajit Agarkar. And then Bhuvneshwar Kumar went and reinvented himself.

He always had excellent control over swing, but he added a yard of pace too. Always excellent with the new-ball, he was suddenly one of the best death bowlers in the world. We had always marvelled at his in-swinger, we had oohed and aahed at his out-swingers, but bouncers? Yorkers? This was an entirely new beast. An entirely new Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

England is over.

But Bhuvneshwar is ready to ride once again, and will be itching to reinforce just how good he has become.