SA vs IND, 2018: Bhuvneshwar Kumar reveals he has been practicing the 'Knuckle-ball' for a year now

India continued their dominance over hosts South Africa in the limited overs format as they won the first Twenty20 International by 28 runs. The Men in Blue took a 1-0 lead after winning the first match at the Wanderers in Johannesburg courtesy Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s five-for.

The Indian team has not left a stone unturned since the loss in the second Test in Centurion. Having lost the Test series 1-2, the Indian team struck back in the ODI series and won the series by a margin of 5-1.

India batted first in the first T20 international and scored a mammoth total of 203. Shikhar Dhawan was the star with the bat for the tourists as he scored 72 off just 39 deliveries and eventually gave India a solid platform.

However, the star of the match was fast bowler Bhuvneshwar, who became the first Indian bowler to pick up a five-wicket haul in T20 cricket.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been India’s most successful bowler on the current tour of the Rainbow Nation. He picked up 10 wickets in the two Tests he played in.

However, his performance dipped in the One-day International series as he could only pick up two wickets in the five matches. Kumar was then left of the playing XI in the last ODI and was replaced by Shardul Thakur.

Kumar made a fantastic comeback to the side and finished with the bowling figures of 5 for 24 in his four overs.

The right arm bowler showcased great skills by bowling a knuckleball. Kumar revealed that he has been practicing the knuckleball for a year now.

He said, “I enjoy bowling in tough situations. The knuckleball is something I have been working on for almost a year. Nowadays, you need to figure out new ways to get wickets. When you win, you forget everything else. And when we went in today, we knew what we wanted to do. Whenever India goes abroad, the reputation is that we are not a good batting side when it comes to playing short bowling. We have tackled that thing really well in this series.”

Here’s the news feed:

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SA vs IND, 1st T20I: Bhuvneshwar Reveals The Reason Behind His Success Across Formats