I didn't think I would take five wickets: Bhuvneshwar Kumar

At Lunch Day 4, the West Indies v India 3rd Test looked good enough for a draw with the home team batting in their first innings looked well placed at 194/3 in reply to India’s 353. And even though Test cricket is considered the slowest version of the game, where things need time to happen Indian swing bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar turned the scenario on its head in real quick time.

The second new ball was available in the second session of the day and skipper Virat Kohli took it immediately. He handed it to the two new bowlers brought in for this Test Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar. Kumar first had Jermaine Blackwood caught by Kohli in the slips to open his wickets tally and then absolutely rattled West Indies up. Jadeja at the other end also got rid of Roston Chase to ensure there was no resistance.

West Indies from a position where they were 202/3 were bowled out for 225 giving the visitors a 128-run lead in the first inning. With the ball swinging Bhuvi was at his best and he set the batsmen up with outswingers to surprise them with the big inswinger. Talking about his strategy against Marlon Samuels and Blackwood Bhuvneshwar said, “There was not a particular reason but it was something I was trying in the nets. Because it makes some kind of angle that makes it difficult for the batsmen to play so that was the thing I was practicing in the nets. When I bowling to both of them, I was trying to bowl close to the stumps. There wasn’t a particular plan for Samuels but for both I was trying that thing.”

“Biggest point was that the ball was swinging because when that happens it is a boost for me because I have more chances to take wickets. Especially after lunch I could do that so you can say that break was something positive for me because I got a break and I had to bowl after that. So when you get one wicket you get the confidence that you can bowl further and when I was bowling it was the same in my mind that these are the 7-8 overs in which I can take wickets. I didn’t think I would take five wickets but that comes with the momentum.” He said as soon as he observed the ball was moving he believed he had the best chance of picking wickets.

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Bhuvi said that it will be tough to predict if it will swing like it did in the second inning since it didn’t move much on the second day. “It is very difficult to say that tomorrow I will get swing again because if you see earlier in the first innings I didn’t get as much swing, maybe the wicket was a bit damp. Today I got a lot of swing, maybe the ball was a good one. It is tough to say, so it is tough to predict for tomorrow, but there is something in the pitch for the bowlers so I think we can get them out again.”

He is calm and not the usual angry, fierce fast bowler. Bhuvneshwar said, “It has been my nature from beforehand itself. I don’t get angry when someone drops a catch or (when) batsmen say something. From the beginning itself it wasn’t something I prepared for but this is something natural in me. You can say that my whole focus is to get the process right so I don’t get distracted with these things.”

He was out of the Indian team for a long time, how was he preparing himself? “I played after almost one and a half years. I didn’t do anything specific for that, but when we had the camp in Bangalore so that’s the time when I started preparing for this series in particular. So I didn’t do anything different. I just knew that it will swing a bit here and there will be something in it for the fast bowlers. I prepared in that way only. For Test matches you need fitness so that’s the thing I was working most.”

What was the discussion in the dressing room ahead of the day? “We had a talk about that thing that if we can get them out before Tea, we will have enough time to get them out twice. We discussed our plans and we knew what we had to do but for that we needed to take wickets. After Lunch, when I got the first wicket I knew that this is the time if we can get one or two wickets, we can get them out. So, yes, we made our mindset that we had to get them out quickly if we had to win the Test match.”

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Bhuvi said though he wasn’t a part of the team but when he ran into bowl it felt pretty normal since he was focusing on the process and practiced like he was playing a game. “When I found out that I was playing I was a bit nervous. There was no pressure as such but if you are playing after so long there are some nerves, whatever format you play. For me if I play in club cricket still I have some nerves. But when I came to the ground and bowled the first ball, everything felt normal. Maybe because I was thinking only about the process and focusing on that came from practice. I practice the way I am bowling in the match but it is not easy to sit outside for so long and then come back. It is not frustrating always, but it isn’t easy either. So it is important that you keep preparing yourself for the chance that might come. It is not necessary that you might get wickets, but it shouldn’t be that you are not prepared.”

Does he think India has enough runs on the board to bowl West Indies out on the last day? “We haven’t discussed it yet, but tomorrow morning we will discuss this and make a plan during the meeting. Definitely the aim is to have as many overs as possible to bowl them out.” He concluded.

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