Rise and rise of Bhuvneshwar

Johannesburg, February 19

The way India have turned things around after losing the first Two Tests in South Africa is remarkable. Much of the credit for this amazing turnaround has deservedly gone to skipper Virat Kohli and the two wrist-spinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. There’s, however, one more individual who has been pretty exceptional for India, right from the very first ball bowled on this long tour. Yes, it’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar; the pacer has been chipping in with fine performances right from the first Test, both with bat and ball.

On Sunday, in the first T20I, he came up with another solid showing, picking up 5/24 to help India to a comfortable win. The five-wicket haul made him the first Indian and overall the sixth bowler to have a five-for in all formats of the game. “Taking wickets means a lot to me,” Kumar said. “However, it doesn’t matter if you take five wickets or how many as long as you’re winning matches for your country. That’s what matters, though taking fifers in every format feels good. I want to do it for as long as possible. “

Did he do something special for his maiden five-wicket haul in T20I? “I was trying to change my pace. I just wanted to take the pace off the ball because I knew batsmen won’t find it easy to hit. The important thing is how you mix your deliveries according to the wicket.” 

“Today we bowled a lot of slow balls. It was a part of our strategy on this wicket, to do away with pace and make it difficult for the batsmen to score. Apart from line and length, it’s important to understand how you want to mix your deliveries.” 

Kumar hailed the team’s 28-run win as a “complete performance”. “When we went in there, we knew what we wanted to do. We had lost the first two Test matches and then we came back. The momentum was on our side and if momentum is on your side, you have got to make it count. Credit has to go to the entire team for the way we have played in every department,” said Kumar.

The pacer said managing workload and fitness has been the key to his success. “First thing, it comes with fitness. It’s not easy playing all three formats, especially on a single tour. So the first thing is to manage workload. I practise in a specific way to avoid putting extra load on the body,” he said. 

India batsmen no longer weak against short balls 

Giving credit to the batsmen, the pacer said their performance on this tour has enhanced their reputation against short-pitched deliveries. “Whenever India go abroad, there’s a perception that the Indian batsman are not good against short-pitched bowling. This time we have not seen that thing. We have really tackled it well. Even today, they bowled 5-6 overs of short-pitched deliveries, but it backfired on them,” said Kumar.

“Whatever reputation we had, we’ve been playing totally opposite of that in the last few years. We have managed the short balls pretty well on this tour,” he said. — PTI