Bhuvneshwar Kumar was included in India’s T20I squad for the upcoming five-game series in New Zealand, marking his return to the Men in Blue side for the first time since 2022. Following a visit to New Zealand that year, he was removed from the national spotlight. His 37 T20I wickets in 2022 continue to be the greatest of any Indian man in a single year.
Twelve days after India’s elimination from the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and his physiotherapist Ramneesh Vohra had not allowed the rejection to ruin their relationship.
And now Ramneesh Vohra has recalled what made Bhuvneshwar Kumar work hard and keep the fire burning to get back into the Indian team.
Bhuvneshwar’s stillness was perplexing, even for Ramneesh. His thoughts finally came out in the open one morning. “I want to be like that again,” Bhuvneshwar told Ramneesh, as per the Indian Express.
He gestured to a smartphone screen that repeatedly showed the thunderous in-swingers that shook Pakistan’s Nasir Jamshed and Mohammad Hafeez during their T20I and ODI debuts in December 2012.
Bhuvneshwar wasn’t searching for a swing to wear the India blues again. “He just wanted to enjoy and give his best no matter where he played. The chat was all about that,” Ramneesh recalls.
The platform for his return was laid by his performance and contributions to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) back-to-back IPL wins in 2025 and 2026. He picked a cumulative total of 45 wickets in two seasons, including 28 in the IPL 2026 win.
“He never wanted to increase pace. He only wanted to regain his swing. We first put in work to help regain that swinging capacity. The technical aspects were handled by Surya. I would handle his joints, which had to be opened up first. Only then could he proceed to strengthening, do functional activities, and later enter game-pattern activities. His priority was to get his foot landing at the crease like in 2012, when his contact was on his toe and not the entire back foot,” says Ramneesh.
During RCB’s successful Playoffs run in May, the metamorphosis was in full swing. Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan were frozen by two deliveries at about 140 kph, which Bhuvneshwar made with his revitalised bouncer and nip-backer.
“Earlier, he used to be a bowler, like many others. Now, he can run a marathon if he wants,” Ramneesh says proudly.
“Zero sugar, zero gluten, and zero lactose for the last six years. He has shed fat from his visceral organs. That’s the main thing,” he added.
He weighed 80 kg earlier, with 22-25 per cent body fat. Now at 75 kg and 16 per cent body fat, Bhuvneshwar has improved his muscle mass.
