IND vs PAK: Bhuvneshwar Kumar Sets A New T20I Record For India Against Pakistan

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was in top form as he also claimed the prized scalp of Babar Azam (10) in his four-wicket haul. In his second over, he caught the Pakistani captain off guard with a bouncer as Babar attempted to pull, only to top edge to Arshdeep at short fine leg.

In the high-stakes encounter on Sunday against Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2022, the Indian pacers made all the decisions and took all the wickets. For the first time in a T20I inning, Indian seamers claimed all ten wickets.

India got off to a horrible start when KL Rahul was bowled by Naseem Shah, a debutant, as they attempted to chase down 148 runs to win the game and exact some sort of revenge for losing the T20 World Cup 2021. Before Mohammad Nawaz removed them both, Rohit Sharma (12) and Virat Kohli (35) performed admirably for a while.

Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja were the only players left to lead India to victory in the final over after Suryakumar Yadav was also out for 18 runs. India won the match with 5 wickets in hand because of 52 runs from Ravindra Jadeja (35) and Hardik Pandya (33* in 17 balls).

There is no swing but there is a bit of bounce: Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s four-wicket haul set a new record for an Indian bowler and was the best-ever stats for the squad against Pakistan. He surpassed Pandya’s 3/8 at Mirpur in 2018.

Following Hardik’s important wickets of Rizwan (43), Khushdil Shah (2), and Iftikhar Ahmed (28), Bhuvneshwar Kumar cleaned up the bottom order, dismissing Shadab Khan (10), Asif Ali (9), and Naseem Shah (0).

Bhuvneshwar Kumar later remarked about his outstanding performance: “I felt the first ball would swing before bowling it. There was no swing, but there was some bounce. We knew we had to bowl wicket to wicket, so we planned to bowl short.”

“The pitch was a little sloppy, and 147 means we gave up a few too many runs in the end. Because the pitch is a little streaky, I believe we can win if we bat well in the first six overs. There is no swing, but there is some bounce, which we must manage carefully.”

India’s next encounter is against Hong Kong on Wednesday.

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