When Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up his third five-for (5/33) of his career after a stunning display of swing bowling in the second session of the third Test, there was one person at the ground who wasn’t happy. While he admired his craft, the official cameraman was disappointed that Bhunveshwar did not celebrate enough, denying him a perfect picture that would highlight his performance on an eventful day of cricket. A combination of inswing and outswing with smart use of the crease, Bhuvneshwar’s spell revived memories of India’s tour of England in 2014 where he had looked unplayable in seaming conditions.
The photojournalist’s observation typifies Bhuvneshwar’s personality. Destructive with the swinging ball, but relatively calm overall. Most of his time during the first two games in which he was not picked in the XI, was spent in the nets, observing and analyzing the degrees of swing he generated. His chats with fellow bowlers often revolve around the shine on the ball and the swing it could offer.
Playing his first Test after a gap of 16 months, Bhuvneshwar revived hopes of an Indian win after an entire day’s play was washed out due to rain. When captain Virat Kohli handed him the second new ball in the afternoon session, he changed the complexion of the match and also his match figures. Before that spell, his figures read 12-4-17-0, but with the new ball he was brilliant. He mounted pressure, allowing just two runs to be scored off his first three overs.
In his fourth over, he started off with inswingers and slipped in an outswinger that Blackwood had failed to read resulting in an outside edge that was caught by Kohli in the slips. That wicket ended the 67-run stand for the fourth wicket and gave an India an opening.
In his next over, he foxed the experienced Marlon Samuels. After four outswinger, Bhuvneshwar got the ball to curl in and Samuels expecting a similar line, was surprised to find the ball coming into him. Before Samuels could realize and straighten his bat, the ball had taken an inside edge and went on to crash into the stumps.
For Samuels and later debutant Alzarri Joseph he went wide of the crease showcasing his complete range. Bhuvneshwar, who had removed captain Jason Holder too, had to wait for his fifth wicket as two catches were dropped in a space of three balls and leg before appeal was turned down. Once again, Bhunveshwar was calm. He went back to his run-up, started all over again and picked up the fifth wicket this time with a short ball when Shane Dowrich’s slash was picked up by Shikhar Dhawan on the second attempt. “I don’t get angry when someone drops a catch or when a batsman says something. I have always been like that. I always focus on my process; I don’t get distracted,” said Bhuvneshwar after the day’s play.
The swing expert from Meerut admitted he was slightly nervous before the start of the Test as he was playing the longest format after a long gap. “When I found out that I was playing, I was a bit nervous. There was no pressure as such, but if you are playing after so long there are some nerves, whatever format you play. When I came to the ground and bowled the first ball, everything felt normal. Maybe because I was thinking only about the process that came from practice.
“I practice the way I am bowling in the match, but it is not easy to sit outside for so long and then come back. It is not frustrating always, but it isn't easy either. So it is important that you keep preparing yourself for the chance that might come. It is not necessary that you might get wickets, but it shouldn't be that you are not prepared.”
He said the bowling group was determined to bowl West Indies out quickly and make up for the lost time to give themselves a chance on the final day to press for a win. “We had a talk about it that if we can bowl them out before Tea, we will have enough time to get them out twice. We discussed our plans but for that we needed to take wickets. After Lunch, when I got the first wicket I knew that if we can get or two more, we can run through the lineup.”
