Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/50) played a key role with the ball in India’s convincing 36-run victory over Australia in the 14th match of ICC Cricket World Cup at The Oval on Sunday (June 9).

Defending a mammoth total of 352 on a flat pitch, Bhuvneshwar bowled economically and dismissed the dangerous looking Steve Smith (69) and Marcus Stoinis (0) in the same over to trigger the Aussie collapse. He got rid of Adam Zampa in the final delivery of the 50th over to bundle out Australia for 316.  

During his interaction in mixed zone after the win, Bhuvneshwar said: “This performance is very satisfying because if you look at the conditions, it is fully in favour of batsmen. There’s nothing much for the bowler and managing to get them out on this wicket has been a good boost.”

David Warner (65 off 84 balls) struggled during his stay at the crease and Bhuvneshwar attributed it to proper planning by the Indian bowlers.

“Since there wasn’t much help from the wicket, we didn’t wish to give them much room and we capitalised on it. That was our plan,” he said.

Bhuvneshwar termed Smith’s wicket as the important one. He believes it was the scalp which effectively sealed the deal for India.

“I bowled a slower one and he missed it. That’s how I got the wicket. In fact, shuffling across to the off-stump is his strength and he gets maximum runs that way. This time he missed. He missed that ball and it was a good thing for us.”

He also said that the bowling unit was mentally prepared for a grind and the primary aim was to make life difficult for batsmen.

“The Oval has always been a good batting track and there’s not much for the bowlers. We knew, it would be a high-scoring match and we were mentally prepared. We just tried to make it difficult for the batsmen with slower balls and other variations,” Bhuvneshwar concluded.

(With PTI inputs)