25 Facts about Bhuvneshwar Kumar - India’s Ace Swing Bowler

Bhuvneshwar Kumar left his imprint on the cricketing universe with a stunning debut against Pakistan. Since then, there has been no looking back for this young man. He rose in the ranks with consistent performances in the domestic circuit and eventually made it to the Indian team. He might not have been in the best of forms in the last 6 months or so, but there is no denial of the fact that he is one of the best swing bowlers in Indian cricket at the moment. Here are some interesting facts about Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

1. Early life:

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was born on 5 February 1990 to Kiran Pal Singh and Indresh in Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh. His father is a sub-inspector of Uttar Pradesh Police.

2. Early ambitions:

Bhuvi always wanted to be an army officer. It was his childhood dream to be in the Indian army. However, destiny had other plans for him.

3. The shy guy:

He is the epitome of gentleness after Rahul Dravid; this certainly wouldn’t be an overstatement. Bhuvneshwar is soft spoken by nature and has a shy personality.

4. Sister’s support:

He had a desire to play cricket. And it was his sister Rekha Adhana, who encouraged him to play cricket. She took him to the professional coaching camp when he was just 13 years of age.

5. Nicknames:

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is fondly known as Bhuvi in the Indian team.

6. Playing style:

Kumar is a right-arm medium fast bowler who swings the ball both ways efficiently and has enhanced his death bowling skills of late. He is a useful lower order batsman.

7. First-class debut:

After putting up consistent performances in the age group cricket, he was picked up for the Uttar Pradesh team in the first-class domestic season in 2007. He made his first-class debut at the age of 17 against Bengal in the Ranji Trophy. He picked up 3/25 in the first innings and went wicketless in the second.

8. The wicket of Sachin Tendulkar:

Even before troubling the big stars of international circuit, he got Sachin Tendulkar out for a duck. 19-year-old Bhuvi achieved this feat during the 2008-09 Ranji Trophy final. It was the first occasion when Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed for a duck in first-class cricket.

9. First-class ton:

During the 2^nd semi-final of the Duleep Trophy in 2012, Bhuvneshwar showed his class with the bat. Playing for Central Zone, against the North Zone, he came in to bat at number 8 and hit 128 off 253 balls to give his side a first innings lead. This remains to be his only ton in FC cricket.

10. International debut:

Kumar made his first imprint in the international cricket against Pakistan in a T20I in December 2012. On the last ball of his first over, he bowled Nasir Jamshed. In his next over, he dismissed Umar Akmal and followed it up with the wicket of Mohammad Hafeez, with Pakistan reeling at 12/3 in 3 overs. He ended up with figures of 3/9 in his 4 overs.

11. Cementing his place with ODI debut:

During the same tour, he made his ODI debut as well. He had an even better start to his ODI career as he dismissed Mohammad Hafeez on the very first ball of the over. He finished with figures of 2/27 in his 9 overs, in a match that India lost by 6 wickets. With an impressive economy and good swing bowling at display, he cemented his place in the Indian team.

12. Test Debut: Partnership with MS Dhoni:

He soon made his Test debut against Australia in the Border Gavaskar trophy in 2013 at Chennai. Although he went wicketless in the first innings, he was good with the bat. He formed a partnership of 140 runs with MS Dhoni for the 9th wicket to take India’s total to 572. He scored 38, the highest by a number 10 Indian batsman on debut. He went wicketless again in the second innings. His maiden wicket came in the 2nd innings of his second Test.

13. Champions Trophy 2013:

India lifted the Champions Trophy in 2013 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar played a key role in India’s victory as he often got them the early wickets. After the tournament, he was picked in the team of the tournament.

14. Best ODI figures:

His best ODI figure came against Sri Lanka in the tri-nation series that involved West Indies as well. In the match prior to the finals, he picked up 4/8 in his 6 overs in a rain-affected match. Thwacked by his spell Sri Lanka bundled out for 96.

15. The dramatic tour to England:

India had a horrid tour to England in 2013 as they lost 1-3. However, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was highly impressive during the tour. He was named as Indian Player of the Series for his all-round show. Not only did he pick up 5/82 at Nottingham and 6/82 at the Lord’s, he scored runs at number 9 too, with three half centuries to his name.

16. The Lord’s Honors Board:

Bhuvneshwar’s 6/82 against England at Lord’s in 2014 during the 2nd Test match put him on the Lord’s Honors board. India won the match by 95 runs.

17. 3 half centuries:

In the first Test of the 2014 tour against England he scored 58 and 63* runs and then followed it up with 52 in the second innings of the second Test, thus becoming the first Indian number 9 player to get three fifties in one series. He aggregated 247 runs in the four-match series.

18. Gamer:

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is an ardent fan of gaming. He loves to play games in his leisure time and PlayStation is his favorite hobby.

19. Gayle is the Bunny:

Chris Gayle has tormented bowlers across the globe, but Bhuvneshwar has managed to keep the Big Jamaican in his trap. He has dismissed him four times in his career so far.

20. The lone ranger:

Even during the IPL, when Gayle smacked Pune Warriors to all parts of the ground, hammering 175, Bhuvneshwar managed to keep him down. In a match when all bowlers gave away runs, Bhuvi had an economy under 6! The Royal Challengers put up 263 runs on the board but Bhuvneshwar gave just 23 runs off his 4 overs. That means the other 16 overs gave away 240 runs!

21. Castled in all formats:

He has a unique distinction of getting his first wicket in all the 3 formats of the game as bowled. He cleaned up Nasir Jamshed in T20Is, Mohammad Hafeez in ODIs and David Warner in Tests. He became the first ever bowler to do so.

22. First over wonder kid:

Bhuvneshwar had a thrilling debut at the international scene. He bagged his first T20 wicket in the very first over by bowling Nasir Jamshed out. He repeated the same in the ODIs too as he dismissed Mohammad Hafeez on the first ball of his maiden ODI bowling spell.

23. IPL career:

Following his good performances in the 2008/09 Ranji season, he was handed an IPL contract by the Royal Challengers Bangalore. In 2011, he was signed by Pune Warriors India. After the dissolution of the PWI team, in 2014, he was picked up by the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

24. Major teams:

The various teams that he has played for so far are- India, India A, Pune Warriors, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Uttar Pradesh.

25. Awards and accolades:

Bhuvi was named as a player in the team of the tournament of the Champions Trophy in 2013. He was also the winner of LG People’s Choice Award winner in 2014.