Dhoni asked me to play in Test match mode, concedes Bhuvneshwar Kumar

The chips were down for team India in the second ODI against Sri Lanka when a certain Akila Dhananjaya ran through the Indian batting lineup. At 131/7, things looked grim for the visitors. But an unbeaten 100 run stand between Bhuvneshwar Kumar and MS Dhoni ensured that the visitors notched up a 3 wicket win to go 2-0 up in the 5-match ODI series.

Bhuvneshwar played the ideal supporting role to senior batsman MS Dhoni in the run chase. He hit his maiden fifty, an unbeaten 53, to see India over the line. Speaking about the match in the post match press conference, Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded that MS Dhoni helped him settle the nerves.

He also revealed that Dhoni asked him to play in the same way as he would do in a typical Test match. This was evident during the game when the boundaries had dried up and both players just nurdled around for singles. With the target being a modest one, it was perhaps the most sensible thing to do.

“It was a bit surprising for me because we had a great opening start and all of a sudden, we collapsed. It was a panic situation for us. When I went into bat, Dhoni told me to play my natural game, ‘play as if you are playing a Test match.’ He told me not to take any pressure,” quoted Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

“We knew that if played the entire overs, we will end up winning. There was nothing to lose for us. We were already seven down. And I just went to bat without having any kind of pressure on myself. I just wanted to support MS as much I could,” he added further.

Keeping things simple

Elaborating his point a little more, the Indian pace bowler noted that the conversation between him and MS Dhoni was crisp and clear – to keep things simple. They knew the match was well within the reach if they do not let the asking rate creep up.

“We didn’t plan anything extraordinary. We tried to keep it simple and not let the asking rate go beyond 6-7,” conceded Bhuveshwar.