Bhuvneshwar Kumar is rubbing shoulders with Richard Hadlee and Ian Botham after superb start to India's tour of England



Kumar has three fifties and two five-fors in first two Tests

Showed England bowlers how to bowl in English conditions at Lord's

India think he should have been man of the match at Trent Bridge

The night before the 2008-09 Ranji Trophy final at Hyderabad, the 18-year-old Bhuvneshwar Kumar was nervously preparing to bowl to Sachin Tendulkar. ‘Is Tendulkar going to take your life?’ asked his coach, trying to gee him up. ‘In the worst scenario you will get hit for six sixes.’

Next day Kumar inflicted on India’s demigod a scratchy 15-ball duck – Tendulkar’s first in two decades in the domestic game. He finished the innings with five wickets, then made 41 and 80.



Perhaps the only surprise about his all-round excellence at Trent Bridge and Lord’s is that it should even count as a surprise at all.

Pitching it just right: Bhuvneshwar Kumar has shown the England bowlers how to use English conditions The second Test is not yet over, but already he has helped himself to three half-centuries from No 9 and a pair of five-fors. Previously only Richard Hadlee and Ian Botham had scored fifty and taken five-wicket hauls in successive Tests. In his first Test series overseas Bhuvneshwar is rubbing statistical shoulders with giants.

Another 50: Kumar acknowledges his third half century of the Test series at Lord's

The Indian dressing-room were quietly fuming when Jimmy Anderson beat him to the man of the match award in Nottingham, but he is doing his best to make an unanswerable case here.

In England’s first innings he showed the home side how to exploit English conditions, pitching the ball up with just enough swing and seam movement to make driving a hazardous business.

On Sunday, he arrived at the crease with the Test – and possibly the series – in the balance. India had just lost their seventh wicket and led by only 211. Had Joe Root accepted a sharp but catchable head-high chance at third slip when Bhuvneshwar was on two, England would have been favourites.

Instead, he did what proper batsmen do: in the company of the lively Ravindra Jadeja, he made the opposition regret their error. By the time he was last out, poking Ben Stokes to second slip, Bhuvneshwar’s tally in this series had reached 209 runs and 11 wickets.

On Friday night he had raised a few eyebrows when he admitted his hero was another seam-bowling Kumar – Praveen, who enjoyed success here on India’s tour in 2011. Both men hail from Meerut, a small town in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh known for its production of cricket balls and scissors.