Bhuvneshwar Kumar always wanted to be an all-rounder, says his childhood coach

Team India were in all sorts of trouble during the second ODI against Sri Lanka recently. From a point of being in total command with 109/0 on the board, the team slumped to 131/7. Had there not been a certain Bhuvneshwar Kumar and a steady head in MS Dhoni, the hosts would have leveled the ODI series. It was an unbeaten century stand between the two that helped India win by 3 wickets.

En route the century stand, Bhuvneshwar Kumar brought up his maiden ODI fifty. This is not the first time that he has entertained with the bat. During the 2014 India’s tour of England, he had hit three fifties in the Test series. Surely, the lad can bat. This very fact was recently recalled by the near and dear ones of Bhuvneshwar.

His childhood coach, Sanjoy Rastogi, noted that Bhuvi always had the finesse needed for a batsman. He went on to quote that Bhuvneshwar Kumar always aspired to become an all-rounder. He gave equal amount of time to batting and bowling.

“There used to be matches of 8 overs and huge scores of 150+ were often made and Bhuvneshwar was really good with the bat. When he joined my academy, he had brilliant foot work enquired about his batting. He was a different person as he used to give equal time to both batting and bowling altogether. During the early years when we had barren grounds he used to practice with wet balls which hugely improved his game,” quoted Sanjoy Rastogi as per the quotes in Xtratime.in.

“In the 2005-06 seasons, when Uttar Pradesh defeated Bengal to win the finals of the Ranji Trophy, Bhuvneshwar and other players were highly inspired by the players of those times like Md. Kaif, Suresh Raina, Praveen Kumar, RP Singh and Piyush Chawla. Ever since his childhood he used to dream of becoming an all-rounder,” he added further.

Words from the proud father

Bhuvneshwar’s father, Kiran Pal Singh, retired Sub-Inspector of the UP police, was mighty proud with the way his son helped the national side win the crucial game. He reflected back in time and mentioned that he always wanted his son to be a cricketer.

“I always wanted my son to play cricket. We even had options of playing him from Delhi as the distance from Meerut to Delhi is very less. However many youngsters play well from Delhi and somehow I thought that my child would get lost from there. So I wanted my son to play from UP,” said the proud father.

Piyush Chawla knows it right

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is known to be very good friends with leg spinner Piyush Chawla. Both cricketers have played a lot of domestic cricket together. Talking about the batting abilities of Bhuvi, Chawla, who recently moved to Gujarat, recalled how he and Bhuvi often saved matches for the team whilst batting in the lower order. He also pointed out the incident that proved to be turning point in Bhuvi’s career.

“He always used to play at No.8 and I can recount many incidents like almost 10-12 times when we both played crucial innings to save our side. He always had the mentality to play long innings and also beams with confidence,” said Chawla.

“He was highly motivated by one incident when in 2008-09 Ranji Trophy finals he bowled Sachin Tendulkar for a duck in the very first ball. Sachin advised him that he would play well and would represent his country. This incident changed his life,” he added further.