Plans against David Warner and Cartwright worked: Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has revealed that he had plans for the Australian openers from the outset in the second ODI on Thursday. He scalped both David Warner and Hilton Cartwright which put the visitors on the backfoot chasing a below par total under lights. The former was undone by a beautiful out swinging delivery and the latter was castled with an inswinger. Eventually, the early blows helped India win the game by 50 runs and take the 2-0 lead in the 5-match series.

After opting to bat first, India could only score 252 despite half-centuries from Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli. But the bowling attack led by Bhuvi at the top put the Aussie batsmen under pressure. Then the wrist spinners in Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal controlled the middle part of the innings as the former lit up the Eden Gardens with a sensational hat-trick.

Though Marcus Stoinis kept the game alive for some time, it was too late by then as they were bowled out for a paltry total of 202 with more than seven overs to spare as Bhuvi had Kane Richardson on the first ball of his 7th over.

Our bowlers are bowling better

Bhuvneshwar put up an exhibition of swing bowling in the evening on Thursday which unsettled the Australians at the top. He cleared that he had some plans against their openers and it worked.

“Yes I planned. First bowl I bowled I knew there is some swing on the wicket. Specially for Warner, generally I bowl outswingers to him in Tests also so I knew there is a good chance I can get him out. And for Cartwright, it was normal, top of off-stump for him,” he said at the post-match press conference.

He also claimed that the Indian bowlers are bowling wonderfully as most of the players of the visitors play Indian Premier League (IPL) and they know how to combat spin.

“Our bowlers are bowling too well maybe. They score off our spinners in the IPL so they (Australia) can play spin. Our bowlers then are maybe bowling better here and they cannot pick them,” Bhuvi, whose figures after the first spell were 6-2-9-2, said.

The 27-year-old also acknowledged the support staff and especially their trainer Shankar Basu for his evolution as a bowler in recent years. “When I started, I used to depend on conditions. Then I started improving as I played more international cricket. The more you play you know the areas you need to improve on. One year after I started playing, I knew I had to increase pace. I had no clue how to do it. Then our trainer came Mr (Shankar) Basu and he changed the training regime. Knowingly or unknowingly, my pace increased and with that my death bowling also improved,” Bhuvi added.

His improvement in the batting has one of the biggest positives for him in a career as he claimed that the match-winning half-century in Sri Lanka gave him the much needed confidence.

“I haven’t tried anything differently. I have natural talent and I know I can bat. Specially when it comes to Tests, I can continue. In ODIs, you have to hit at my position and I don’t have that ability. But in the last three-four matches, the situations I got myself in, 10-15 overs I batted and in Sri Lanka I got the confidence that I can contribute in ODI as well. My batting coach Sanjay Bangar has worked on my batting as well,” Bhuvneshwar signed off in style.