Former England captain and cricket pundit Michael Vaughan has showered rich praise on Indian seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar after he made a remarkable comeback to the international arena in the ongoing white-ball series against England at home.
After being sidelined for a year or so due to injury, Kumar made his India comeback in the recent T20I series and played all five games against England, although he could manage only four wickets, but was the most economical bowler in the series with 6.39 in Ahmedabad.
However, the experienced medium-pacer was more impressive in the first ODI on Tuesday (March 23), as he kept things extremely tight from the start and returned with figures of 2/30 in his 9 overs to help Team India beat England by 66 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the ongoing three-match ODI series in Pune.
Following his extremely economical spell in the first ODI, Vaughan labeled Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the most skillful white-ball bowler in the world currently, saying no one can possess great variety like him whether be it outswinger, the inswinger, or the cutters.
Vaughan told Cricbuzz, “Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the most skillful white-ball bowler in the world. I can't think of any other [bowler] that bowls at 80-odd miles an hour and has that white ball moving as he does. There's no one I know that can just get the ball to subtly move like Kumar can. Whether it's outswinger, the inswinger, the cutters.”
He added, “He can bowl the yorkers and the bouncers. Not often but when he wants to unsettle a batsman, he'll bowl a bouncer. I don't know of a more skillful bowler. At that pace around the world. When you think he's coming back from an injury, a remarkable comeback for Bhuvneshwar Kumar.”
The Englishman further pointed out that the danger lies in Kumar’s bowling and not he's not necessarily intimidating while saying the batsmen have to think hard while facing him as the pacer can out skill the batsman catching him off-guard.
Vaughan further noted, “Give me someone bowling 90-odd miles an hour any day of the week. I'll face them with my eyes shut because I just like the pace. But with someone like Bhuvneshwar, you have to think so much. Everything has to be spot on in your timing. Because you know he'll be probing that front-foot, moving that ball either way. He can out skill you.”
He signed off by saying, “He can bowl the balls that you necessarily can't prepare for. When you're facing real quick bowling, it's just your instincts taking over; you can just react and play. When you are facing someone like Bhuvneshwar, you really have to think hard as a batsman.”
