India vs New Zealand: Bhuvneshwar Kumar pegs back Daryl Mitchell's middle-stump with a brilliant in-swinger

Only three days after the T20 World Cup final, India and New Zealand locked horns in first of the three-match T20I series in Jaipur. A lot of players from both teams who featured in the mega event, are not playing in this series but it has presented a great opportunity for other players to step up with the next World Cup only 11 months away.

Talking about stepping up, veteran pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar was dropped from the playing XI only after the game against Pakistan but was picked for the opening T20I against New Zealand. The team management backed him in the World Cup despite not having a great second leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL). No wonder, Bhuvneshwar must have been under tremendous pressure to perform to his potential.

And the man showed-off his amazing new ball skills in the first over itself after Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field. With the game happening on a fresh pitch, there was some swing on offer for the bowler and Bhuvi extracted it to the perfection. He bowled a couple of outswingers to Martin Guptill and conceded a single with the Kiwis’ WC hero Daryl Mitchell coming on strike for the first time in the match.

This is when Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s eyes lit up and he delivered a perfect in-swinger. The batter’s legs didn’t move at all and Mitchell ended up leaving a huge gap between bat and pad. The line and length was perfect from the bowler and the ball ended up pegging back the middle-stump. The dismissal was a bowler’s delight and India’s veteran bowler announced himself back in style.

Here’s the video:

Bhuvneshwar Kumar giving 2016-2017 vibes🥰#INDvNZ
pic.twitter.com/885kfsQnEg

— Lucky❤️✨ (@LBerojya) November 17, 2021

Venkatesh Iyer makes his international debut

As far as the team combination is concerned, New Zealand were already missing Kane Williamson from the team that played the final of the World Cup. They made three more changes leaving out (or resting) Adam Milne, Jimmy Neesham and Ish Sodhi. Mark Chapman, Todd Astle, Rachin Ravindra and Lockie Ferguson made it to the playing XI.

Meanwhile, India included Deepak Chahar, Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel – all three were the traveling reserves in the T20 World Cup – in the playing XI. They also handed a debut to Venkatesh Iyer who became the 93rd player for India in the shortest format of the game. He was rewarded for some excellent all-round skills in the second leg of the IPL 2021 and it remains to be seen if he lives up to the potential.