Happy Birthday Bhuvneshwar Kumar: Top 5 bowling spells by the 'King of Swing'

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was born in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh on 4th February 1990. The right arm medium pacer was already popular among cricket fans even before he made his International debut.

This is because he is the only bowler to get the God of Cricket out for a duck in domestic cricket. Bhuvi has given some prominent performances at the first class level both with bat and ball. When he burst onto the International scene, he was touted as the next Praveen Kumar, another swing bowler from the city of Meerut.

As it turns out, Bhuvi surpassed all expectations and became a main stay in the Indian team. Although, he has been plagued by injuries at many instances.

Here are the top 5 bowling performances by the 'King of Swing'-

4-8 vs Sri Lanka (2013)

Bhuvi with the new ball is a force to reckon with. When the conditions are in his favor, he is just too hard to negotiate. Back in 2013 in a rain affected game, Bhuvi absolutely destroyed Sri Lankan top order by taking all the top 4 batsmen inside the first 10 overs and returned with astounding bowling figures of 4-8.

6-82 vs England (2014)

England is a happy hunting ground for medium pacers who can swing the ball. At Lords in 2014, Bhuvi was bowling at the peak of his abilities and India was able to thrash the Englishmen at Lords after 28 years because of the man from U.P.

0-3 vs West Indies (2014)

In the ICC T20 World Cup 2014, Bhuvi was India's main opening bowler. He wasn't only getting wickets but was able to stem the flow of runs as well. He bowled a magical spell against the mighty West Indians and gave away just 3 runs in 3 overs. Even the biggest hitters in the world were not able to smack him out of the park.

3-9 vs Australia (2017)

No matter what the format is, Bhuvi is effective in each one of them. Against the mighty Aussies, Bhuvi took 3 wickets after giving just 9 runs at the Eden Gardens. He outfoxed the Aussie batsmen and prevented them from getting to the total they might have planned.

2-27 vs Pakistan (2012)

On his very first ball in International Cricket, Bhuvi pegged the off stump back of a top class opening batsman after pitching the ball way outside off stump. That ball gave a clear indication that India has found a terrific swing bowler in Bhuvi. India lost that game but Bhuvi's impressive bowling was the reason why the game went down to the wire.

Published on: Friday, February 04, 2022, 09:06 PM IST