Bhuvneshwar Kumar: A fine all-rounder in the making

Bhuvneshwar Kumar raises the bat acknowledging the crowd after his maiden Test fifty at Trent Bridge

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the swing bowler from a small town named Meerut in Uttar Pradesh was first noticed by cricket fans when he dismissed Sachin Tendulkar for his first first-class duck in a Ranji Trophy final match with a sharp inswinging delivery. Bhuvneshwar's 14th delivery at Tendulkar fetched him the dream wicket. It was full, the seam rushed across through the air straight before cutting in sharply to kiss the edge, onto the pad before popping up to a tumbling short midwicket.

Sensational debut in ODI and T20I cricket

In a semi-final match against North Zone, being a lower order batsman, he scored a century, built partnerships and saved his team from losing the match. This innings showed that he could be a handy lower order batsman for the team. Later in 2012, he was called up for the national duties by the selectors against Pakistan. Poor showing by Parvinder Awana in the previous series against England resulted in the inclusion of the junior bowler from UP.

He was included in the playing eleven that faced Pakistan in the first T20 played at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. He impressed the spectators, fans and experts with an economical spell. Bhuvi bowled a spell of 4 overs for 9 runs and bagged 3 wickets registering economically the best T20I figures on debut by an Indian.

The Uttar Pradesh lad raised expectations in his first international match. The way he has setup a trap for Nasir Jamshed by continuously bowling 4 outswingers and suddenly an inswinger nipping back on to the stumps and cleaning him up was really jaw dropping. This showed his skill in analyzing the batsmen.

Later in the ODI series against the same opponents, he had drawn his first ODI blood with an awestruck debut delivery and this time the victim was Mohammed Hafeez. His performances in his debut T20I and ODI series earned him a spot in the Test squad that faced the Australian team in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2013 on home soil. Albeit he went wicketless in his debut Test, he gave a good company for his skipper and helped MS Dhoni score his maiden double century in Tests.

Showing his prowess in Test cricket against Australia

He was involved in a record-breaking partnership of 140 runs for the 9th wicket at Chepauk, Chennai, with his captain and he also holds the record for the highest score by a number 10 Indian batsman on debut. This partnership gave Australia no chance of winning the match. That innings from the young lad showed some glimpses of his adroit batting in the lower order

He finally bagged his maiden wicket in the prominent form of the game, in the 2nd Test of the same series by cleaning up David Warner. This yielded him a unique record of being the first bowler to scalp all his first three wickets in 3 forms of the game as bowled. In the 4 Test match series he ended with 6 wickets. Later in the Champions trophy he claimed 6 wickets at an average of 22.8 and a pretty good economy of 3.91. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was included in the “Team of the Tournament” of 2013 Champions Trophy officially announced by ICC. He continued his form in the tour of West Indies and also in the ODI series against Australia at home.

In the recently concluded T20 World Cup held in Bangladesh, he too played a major role in carrying India forward to the finals of the tournament. Bowling economically upfront in the powerplay, he created a lot of pressure on the batsman and thus it earned wickets for spinners as batsmen tried to hit them away. Albeit he was not included in the team for matches in South Africa and New Zealand, he carried his good form into the World T20 and IPL.

Playing alongside the likes of Dale Steyn for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, he showed great character to hold the Purple Cap for most of the most of the tournament until Sunil Narine took it away during the playoffs.

Turning into an all-rounder

Though Bhuvneshwar showed a glance of his batting skills, the real chance for him came in the ongoing Investc Test series against England in England. When he came out to bat in the first Test at Trent Bridge, India were 345/7 and he found an able partner in Mohammed Shami. He batted like a top order batsman, guiding Shami how to bat, leaving good balls and hitting the bad ones.

He built a partnership of 111 runs with the last batsman, registering his maiden Test fifty. Again in the 2nd innings when he was out to bat, India were in real danger of losing the match. He stood stubborn at one end and with the help of debutant Stuart Binny, saw India home. He carried his bat with a score of 63*, scoring two back-to-back half centuries in a Test coming in at 9th position and creating a new record. He also took 5 wickets on a pitch that was giving no assistance to the bowlers.

Bhuvneshwar was the only bowler who threatened the English batsmen with his swing in the first innings of the first Test. In the post match interview, he said that his batting has helped him in improving his bowling.“I picked up wickets easily as I started thinking like a batsman. I thought of the balls that troubled me when pitched in certain areas and that helped me pick up my 5 wicket haul,” he said.

In the 2nd Test at the hallowing ground of cricket, Lord's, in the first innings he aided the century hero Ajinkya Rahane and built a partnership with him that took India to a respectable score of 295. He fired with the ball in the first innings and rattled the English batting order with his swing, picking up 6 wickets and getting his name on the honours board at Lord’s. In the second innings, he built a valuable partnership with Ravindra Jadeja for the 8th wicket that turned the game in India’s favour. He batted with utmost ease in the 3rd innings of the match like a top order batsman, hitting the ball cleanly. He showed great determination, calm, composure and cool-headedness in that innings.

Kumar with 3 half-centuries in two Tests, answered his critics that his display with the bat is not pure luck but hard work. This exhibition of extraordinary batting from Bhuvneshwar might have made England bowlers make separate plans to pick his wicket. Just like a specialist batsmen, he played beautiful late cuts, marvellous cover drives, Rahul Dravid like solid defence, VVS Laxman like leg glance and Sachin Tendulkar like straight drives. His brilliant show gave Dhoni and the Indian team management the luxury of picking up an extra batsman in place of Stuart Binny for the third Test of the series.

The next Kapil Dev?

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is now turning into a bowling all-rounder in the team. Right now, he is exactly in the middle of the role. To turn into one of the finest all-rounders like Jacques Kallis or Andrew Flintoff, it needs a lot of hard work, determination and have to suffer a lot of pains. Any wrong step in this procedure will make him another Irfan Pathan, who once looked like a promising all-rounder but unfortunately did not turn up. Bhuvi’s main role in the team is to open the bowling with the new ball. He should not get diverted from this. As a batsman, what we fans expect from him is some help from one end when the other batsmen are batting well and few 30s or 40s that will take the match away from opponents.

His batting display in the limited overs side should have to look quite different from now. You can consume a lot of deliveries in the longest format of the game but not in shorter versions. So depending on the conditions, he has to make changes to his game. When a bunch of wickets fall, he needs to stay in the crease with other batsman and build partnerships and if the top order does good then he might have to slog the ball away.

As a matured cricketer, Bhuvneshwar certainly does look like “the all-rounder in making” and is ready to fulfill the hopes of captain, team management and the Indian cricket fans. If he turns as a bowling all-rounder before the 2015 World Cup, then it will be really one of the most gleeful news to the Indian team and its fans. He should stay fit and away from injuries, should take rest if needed so that he can maintain the good run by the time the tour to Australia commences. This will also increase the chances of India defending the crown down under in 2015 and he can become the finest all-rounder for India since the great Kapil Dev.