Bhuvneshwar Kumar Explains The Similarity Between Himself And MS Dhoni

Indian seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar announced his entry in international cricket with a wicket in his first over in ODI and T20I cricket. While the Meerut-born seamer hasn’t had a vastly successful career so far, he has made his chances count and been an impact player when it mattered. In a conversation with Deep Dasgupta, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has explained an identical trait between him and MS Dhoni.

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At present, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has struggled with plenty of injuries and form concerns. He last played for India in the T20I series against West Indies in December 2019 before suffering a groin injury. Even during the 2019 World Cup in England, the right-arm seamer sat out for plenty of games due to leg injury. So far, he has played in 21 Tests, 114 ODIs, and 43 T20Is.

Former cricketer Deep Dasgupta highlighted MS Dhoni’s emotions at finishing matches which appears to be neutral regardless of the result in most cases. The former captain is always known for maintaining calmness on his face on the field, irrespective of the magnitude of the pressure. Due to the same, the 38-year old has earned plenty of accolades. Deep asked Bhuvneshwar on what goes through his mind, being a death bowler.

The 30-year-old mentioned that it is a trait that is learnt through players like MS Dhoni. Bhuvneshwar Kumar opines that once players concentrate on doing things right on the field to win matches, they become detached from the result. The seamer gave the example of his form in IPL in a few seasons, where he focussed on doing everything correctly and the result was on the positive side. Hence, he underlined that he walks on the same path as MS Dhoni.

“I try to keep the same thinking. Like MS Dhoni, while he is a finisher as a batsman hence, a player learns from his peers. A player knows the result whether it would be a win or loss; however, to get to that, small things are needed to get to come into play. Hence, if a player is committed to the process, they aren’t concerned about the outcome.

Thus, I try to stick to the process as much as possible. I remember my 1-2 seasons of IPL when I was entirely focussed on process that results became a secondary thing for me. However, when taken the overall outcome into account, it was inclined to positive,” Bhuvneshwar Kumar said.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar talks about his figures of 4-0-23-0 in a match in IPL 2013:

Deep Dasgupta went on to ask the Meerut paceman on his performance in a match against Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2013. The clash is best remembered for Chris Gayle’s whirlwind innings of 175 off 66 deliveries at a strike rate of 265.16. While all other bowlers couldn’t contain the southpaw, Bhuvneshwar Kumar recorded stunning figures of 4-0-23-0 for Pune Warriors.

Bhuvneshwar conceded that Gayle somewhat struggles against quality swing bowling hence he followed the same strategy. He admitted that when the West Indian batsman was relentlessly smashing other bowlers, he stuck to his plans and remained in the zone.

“I identified from the past many seasons and encounters against him that Chris Gayle struggles against swing-bowling. Hence, he plotted the same strategy against him. I was in the zone in that match. I was aware that my compatriots are going expensive, having economy rates of 10 and 11; however, I was in a place that I was able to do what I wanted. Thus, I remained in an entirely different league in that match,” Kumar concluded.

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