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Not too long ago, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was considered a white-ball specialist. In the early days of his international career, the pacer depended on whatever assistance there would be in the pitch and conditions overhead to make the ball talk. He had developed a reputation of being a rhythm bowler. Hence, on days when he would get the ball to swing prodigiously, captains wouldn’t hesitate to bowl him out, or at least get the best of him in an extended spell early on. In the 20-over format, on several occasions, captains would bowl out Bhuvi’s four overs in one spell early on.
His job for the night was done in the first seven overs of the innings!
In these last couple of years though, Bhuvneshwar has grown by leaps and bounds as a bowler. He is no longer the one-trick pony – whose lone weapon was swing – and one who would become ineffective once the moisture in the pitch dried out or when the overhead conditions changed.
These days, Bhuvneshwar Kumar isn’t only reliant on swing and seam, but has several other tricks in his arsenal. He has worked on his fitness, and that is now showing in his increased pace; from being a bowler who would generally bowl in the late 120s & early 130s, these days Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowls closer to the 140kph mark consistently. He has even been clocked bowling in excess of the 140kph mark on occasion.
From being a ‘new-ball only’ bowler, Bhuvneshwar Kumar graduated into becoming David Warner’s go-to-bowler in the death overs in the Indian Premier League. In the last two seasons of the IPL, when he bagged the Purple Cap for being the League’s highest wicket-taker, Bhuvneshwar Kumar would time and again land the yorkers right – and be incredibly tough to score off in the death overs.
In the last two seasons of the IPL, Bhuvi has collected more wickets in the death overs than any other bowler – 31 wickets and a bowling economy of 8.70.
The ability to move the ball both ways and the bowling discipline continue to be important elements of his bowling – and those get him plenty of wickets upfront. In the longer version, Bhuvneshwar Kumar is able to threaten and create chances even when the captain hands him the ball for a spell in the middle of the day. In the limited overs format, he uses the skiddy bouncer or the slower bouncer to good effect, is able to dish out the yorker on call, and has a couple of variations of the slower ball – including the hard-to-master knuckle ball.
As a result of all the work he’s done behind the scenes – and credit to India’s Bowling Coach Bharat Arun and all other coaches who may have spent time with the UP pacer – Bhuvneshwar Kumar has now become the complete bowler and has established himself as an integral part of the Indian team across formats.
No surprise, then, that when Bhuvneshwar Kumar was dropped from India’s Test XI for the Centurion Test, there was outrage from all corners.
On Sunday, when he picked up 5-24 in India’s win in the first T20I against South Africa, Bhuvneshwar Kumar became the first Indian to join an elite club of bowlers who had 5-fers in all the three formats of international cricket.
At the Wanderers Stadium, Bhuvneshwar pushed South Africa on the back foot with a tidy first spell of 3-0-19-2. He then returned to bowl the 18th over and knocked the stuffing off of the hosts’ run-chase; Reeza Hendricks became a victim of his slower delivery, and Heinrich Klaasen and Chris Morris were dismissed off successive deliveries.
India next take on South Africa in the second T20 on 21 February. Catch all the latest updates from India's Tour of South Africa here.
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