Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 23/2. (Source: AP)
Bhuvneshwar Kumar played a stellar role in India’s victory over South Africa on Sunday as they advanced to the semifinals of the ICC Champions Trophy. He and Jasprit Bumrah shared four wickets between them to defeat the Proteas by eight wickets.
Kumar said that their focus was on wickets this time as the ball was not swinging. “Whatever experience I had, the ball was swinging. This time it did not swing at all. So we came together to discuss what we can do. Wickets were the things we got working on,” he said in a post-match conference.
“Even Virat Kohli was giving us tips on what we can do in that area.”
.@BCCI player @Bhuviofficial speaks in the mixed zone after his team’s victory over @OfficialCSA in the #CT17 match at The Oval in London. pic.twitter.com/zDx1kpB96H
— ICC Media (@ICCMediaComms) 11 June 2017
Kumar is relying on his ability to change the length of deliveries so that the runs can be contained. He said that the idea of taking wickets in the first 10 overs is changing. “The teams try to save wickets in the last ten overs and score. So we were planning to take initial wickets and continue the order which helped us restrict the team to less than 300,” said Kumar.
Adding that swing is never easy for batsmen to play, he said, “There are a few things we have tried to change. These are the kind of adjustments that we are making but there hasn’t been much swing in this tournament.”
