Bhuvneshwar Kumar Reveals the Toughest Batsman He Bowled to

It is safe to say Bhuvneshwar Kumar has become one of the most sought-after pacers in the world.

His arrival in international cricket was nothing less than a dream. In his first international over, he bowled Pakistan’s Nasir Jamshed with a beauty. On his first ODI delivery, he bowled Mohammad Hafeez with a gem of a ball. And in his first Test series, he played a part in India’s first whitewash of a four-Test series over Australia.

It was, however, followed by some inconsistent performances which even saw him getting axed. Well, the Uttar Pradesh used it as an opportunity to improve his bowling. He added pace to his bowling, bounced back strongly and has not looked back since then.

In 2016 and 2017, Bhuvneshwar was the leading wicket-taker in the Indian Premier League. His performance in this year’s Test series against South Africa widely got lauded. So far, the pacer has represented India in 21 Tests, 86 ODIs and  26 T20Is, taking over 180 wickets.

Bhuvneshwar has bowled against all the best batsmen in the world. But when it comes to choosing the batsmen he does not like to bowl to; the 27-year old has an interesting answer.

In a candid chat with Gaurav Kapur on his show ‘Breakfast with Champions’, Bhuvneshwar was asked who is his least favourite batsman to bowl to.

“Who’s your least favourite batsman to bowl to?,” asked Gaurav.

In reply, Bhuvneshwar came up with a brilliant answer, saying:

“Any batsman who is in form. Even if he’s the eleventh batsman and is in form, you don’t feel like bowling to him.  Many people have asked me which batsman is the most dangerous. But I have always maintained that bowling to any in-form batsman is dangerous as he is tough to dismiss,” he said.

In addition to taking wickets, Bhuvneshwar also has made useful contributions with the bat. So far, he has scored close to 1,000 international runs with the help of four fifties. When asked about his batting, he said:

“I can bat. When I was younger and playing in the state team, they encouraged me to bat. That’s when I realised I needed to bat for the team and make runs after wickets had fallen.”