Ground in Thiruvananthapuram Shouldn’t be too Different to Other Indian Grounds: Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Team India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar addressed the press conference ahead of yet another decider against the Kiwis, this tie in the T20I format. The Men in Blue have been pretty exceptional in their previous tours against Sri Lanka, Windies, and the Aussies but against New Zealand, they have found it a bit difficult to come out with dominating performances on a consistent basis which have led to both the ODI and T20I series going to deciders.

When asked whether it is due to the inclusion of the 5^th bowler which has hurt the team, Bhuvneshwar said that the 5^th bowler couldn’t be blamed for the defeats. He went on to add they played quality cricket against the Lankans, Windies, and Australia and the series was a five-match affair. He quipped that it is pretty difficult to analyze the performance of a team and their domination in a three-match series.

“If you lose the first match, then you have to play catch up for the rest of the series,” Bhuvneshwar said.

Bhuvneshwar was asked on his bowling partner Bumrah and the sort of support he gets from the lanky fast bowler. Bumrah was the standout bowler for the Indians in the previous encounter and conceded a less than six runs per over in his four overs when the Kiwis scored a mammoth 196 runs.

Bhuvneshwar said with the sort of action Bumrah has it is very difficult for a batsman to pick him and to add to it he has some lethal Yorker and slower deliveries.

“If I don’t perform he comes up with the goods and vice versa. We always give each other confidence, discuss on what strategies to follow and complement each other,” Bhuvneshwar said.

When asked about what has gone wrong for the bowlers not only in the T20I but also the ODI series, Bhuvneshwar said:

“It was basically Colin Munro in the previous encounter and they have really good players like Kane Williamson. You actually cannot single out any one player as there are many and they have come up with a good performance,” Bhuvneshwar said.

When asked about the conditions in the new ground at Trivandrum, Bhuvneshwar said:

“You can’t say as it is a new ground, but it shouldn’t be too different to other Indian grounds. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been quite a find with the bat for India in the last 3 four months.”

When asked what made the transition in his batting possible Bhuvneshwar said:

“I was always confident of batting in Tests. You need a particular innings which give you confidence and for me in the ODI’s it was the half-century against Sri Lanka where I shared a good partnership with Dhoni which gave me confidence that I can also bat in ODI’s.

I continued to bat like that in the nets, and it has paid off in some of the matches in recent times. India has tried Hardik Pandya + 5 bowlers in the last two matches. When asked what would be the combination for the decider Bhuvi said:

“I can’t really comment on this. You have to ask the captain or coach. Whatever the combination is our job is stick give our best and perform according to the needs of the team.”