BIPIN DANI
Team India’s senior pace bowler Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has been going through a bad patch in T-20 international matches. His death overs in the last three outings were very ineffective (he gave away 49 runs) and the team lost all encounters. His performance prompted criticism from not only cricket fans but even the legendary Sunil Gavaskar.
But Bhuvi has a staunch supporter in his wife Nupur. Reacting to the criticism, Nupur, who is not travelling with the team, put up a post in defence of her husband on Insta. “Nowadays, people are so worthless, that they have nothing better to do and have so much time to spread hate and envy... My advice to all those is — nobody is affected by your words or care about your existence. So please spend that time in making yourself better, though there is very little scope for that!!” she wrote.
This is not the first time a cricketer’s wife has taken up cudgels against critics of the players. Take the case of Virat Kohli. His Bollywood actress wife Anushka Sharma has replied sharply to criticism of Virat’s poor form on several occasions in the past.
Even Sakshi Dhoni gave a terse reply to industrialist Harsh Goenka when he criticized Dhoni’s game when he was playing for the Pune IPL team.
Meanwhile, “We are not disturbed by this criticism. It is a part of the game. Even great cricketers have failed in matches”, Bhuvi’s sister Rekha said.
“Before the recent Asia Cup, Bhuvi was named ‘Player of the Match’ in two different series. This T-20 cricket is unpredictable. The matches are played under pressure and expectations from players are very high. Bowlers cannot always be blamed. There are other factors such as dropped catches, dew on the pitch, behavior of the wickets, etc., which influence the outcome of the game. Bhuvi is a well-experienced player and will not lose hope. It is a part of the game,” his childhood coach, Sanjay Rustogi says.
