Tough last year teaches Bhuvi more lessons

Wisdom often is the byproduct of failures and Bhuvneshwar Kumar can’t agree more. The Uttar Pradesh paceman didn’t quite take the international cricket by storm on his debut but made enough impact for one to sit back and take notice of him.

He had to wait for just six balls for his first international wicket, in a T20I against Pakistan in 2012, while his ODI introduction was even more memorable as he got the wicket off the first ball he bowled against same opponents in the same series -- big inswinging deliveries had snaked through the dodgy defence of Nasir Jamshed and Mohammad Hafeez.

Like his senior UP bowling mate Praveen Kumar, Bhuvneshwar operated at around similar pace -- from late 110s to late 120 kmph -- but movement in the air and off the pitch made him a difficult proposition to play.

Less than two months later, the 26-year-old was handed the Test debut against Australia and played a significant part in the 4-0 whitewash of the visitors. Bhuvneshwar’s stock grew further when he bagged 19 wickets at 26.63 against England in the away Test series -- an Indian record for a bowler in the Old Blighty.

During India’s next series in Australia, however, the Meerut bowler remained largely a side show following an ankle injury. He did play the final Test in Sydney but managed poor returns of 168 for one wicket. That was the only Test he played in 2015 and didn’t play a single match in the four-Test series against South Africa at home.

As the canny pacer, who with his wiry frame and soft demeanour belies the conventional impression of a quick bowler, looks to regain his lost place in the side, he acknowledges that he has learnt more in the last one year which saw more downs than ups personally.

“The first two years of my debut were very good,” noted Bhuvneshwar when asked about his progress in international cricket. “Last season, I won’t say it was bad but it wasn’t as good as my first two years. But I have learnt more in the last one year than I did in my first two years because when you are not going through a good patch, you learn about yourself, you learn about your game and you try to improve day by day. So, I have become more mature as a player and a person in this last one year. I know what my game needs to improve at this level. I have been working on those things,” he explained.

Elaborating further, Bhuvneshwar said: “For the first two years I never thought what I was doing as a bowler because when things go your way, you always want to go with the flow. But when things don’t go your way, then you look at what’s going wrong and how you can improve. There are many things that I want to improve. Like, for example, if I am not getting wickets on a turning track, I go back to practice and work on what I need to do to improve my performance in those conditions. Like that there are many things that I have worked on to become a better bowler, batsman and fielder.”

After a good IPL outing with champions Sunrisers Hyderabad, Bhuvneshwar believes he is back to bowling at his best. “I really don’t remember what level that was,” he said with reference to his bowling in the series against England. “But yes, the way I am bowling now, I know I am happy with that. When you analyse, you see whether you are bowling in the areas you want to. That’s exactly what happened in this IPL, I was able to do what I set out for.

“My confidence level is very high after how I performed in this IPL. It’s not just about that I have taken but also about how I bowled. I managed to execute whatever I wanted to. Yes, T20s and Tests are different formats but I can take the confidence to the Test matches. The way I am preparing in the camp, the way I am bowling, I am feeling very confident about myself of doing well in Tests,” he offered.