The much-maligned Indian Premier league (IPl) on Saturday got a dose of positive response when swing bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar credited the T20 league for improving him as a bowler at the death in limited overs cricket.
“IPl has helped me in improving my death bowling. I have been bowling the first few overs with new ball and at the end with the old one,” said the India medium pacer ahead of tomorrow’s third One-Day International against South Africa here on Sunday.
India levelled the series 1-1 at Indore after having lost the series opener to the visitors at Kanpur, and Bhuvneshwar did his bit towards this cause with excellent figures of 3 for 41.
He also rejected suggestions that he has lost the ability to move the ball in the air.
“I don’t think so. The ball swings only in the first 1 to 3 overs. If conditions are favourable, I can swing the ball more. I don’t think I have lost any swing. And death bowling has given me confidence,” said the Uttar Pradesh player.
“I don’t think there has been a change in my bowling role. Being a swing bowler, bowling at the death is just an added facet in my bowling. I used to bowl a lot at the death while bowling in the IPl but it serves as a confidence booster that I can do a lot more with the ball at the start of the innings and at the death. It is good to bowl with the new ball and the old ball,” he added.
Asked about the flat tracks on which the series is being played, Kumar said he and his other bowling mates did not read too much into the wickets and have grown in confidence after helping the team defend a small total of 247 in the previous game.
“As bowlers we don’t worry about the wickets whether they are flat or not. We are very confident after the way we bowled in the last match. They are a good side and we have plans for every individual.
“On spinners set up the game for you/what is your role in the side he said, adding, “If you see the spinners and pacers are complementing each other really well. As a bowling unit you get a lot of confidence if the spinners and pacers are bowling as a team.”
“If the medium pacers are having a tough time, the spinners do a good job to restrict the runs and pick wickets. There is overall support from all the bowlers,” he added.
Kumar said that the blistering match-winning knock of 92 not out off 86 balls by under-fire skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni boosted the bowlers’ confidence that they could set up a win.
“The atmosphere was always normal even when were not winning matches. But after the victory in the last match there is certainly a positive vibe in the team. MS Dhoni’s knock gave the team a lot of confidence in the previous game. But in that game a lot of our bowlers also faced close to 25-30 balls which helped them to figure out how the pitch was playing.”
have given India a sniff: faf
South African batsman Faf du Plessis said his team has let some of its own momentum pass and allowed India to gain in confidence by committing tactical errors during the Indore ODI.
“That’s the most disappointing thing from team perspective. We had India on the ropes — 2-0 in the T20s and 1-0 in the one-dayers. We got nice momentum behind us, but now we have given them a sniff,” du Plessis said on the eve of the third one-dayer here.
“One-all in the series and they will be confident again winning. But in saying that I don’t think both teams have played their best cricket. We have both been firing at around 80 per cent. I think both teams would be inclined to play some better cricket.”
Du Plessis said his team allowed Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to rescue the hosts out of a precarious position with a blistering knock in Indore. “I think we played well into MS’s hands. He had time to bat. He could just knock the ball around and be there at the end on 60 and he could then play an open, aggressive game. We made an error there to make it easy for him,” said du Plessis.