Always knew how to swing the ball, now I have pace too: Bhuvneshwar Kumar

New Delhi: Team India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has dismissed suggestions that Australia are finding it tough to pick up the Indian spinners in the ongoing five-match ODI series. 

The world champions once again faltered with the bat and lost the second ODI by 50 runs on Thursday.

The visitors looked clueless in the first game in Chennai where Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav picked up 5 wickets and the story remained same at the Eden Gardens too as the Indian spin duo sent back half of the visiting team back to the pavilion. 

The struggle has raised questions on the ability of the Australian players to deal with the spinners but instead of criticising them, Bhuvneshwar Kumar credited his teammates for their performance.

Bhuvneshwar bowled an impressive first spell comprising pace and swing as he finished with brilliant figures of 6.1-2 -9-3 including the wicket of dangerous David Warner.

"When I first came into the side, I needed conditions favouring swing bowling to flourish. A year after making my debut, I wanted to increase my pace, but I had no clue how to go about that," Bhuvneshwar made a humble admission during the post-match news conference.

"Shankar Basu introduced me to a different type of training that eventually helped me increase my pace. That, in turn, went on to help me bowl at the death too."

Bhuvneshwar said after bowling the very first delivery, he knew that conditions are ideal for swing bowling, something which has been synonymous with the Eden Gardens.

Asked about the spell, he said, "Yes, I had planned to bowl like that. As soon as I bowled the first ball, I knew there was some swing on offer. To Warner, I knew outswingers can work against him. Pitching it on the offstump and getting it to shape away."

Having played alongside Warner for Sunrisers Hyderabad had obviously come in handy.

"Yes, I know a bit as to where he lacks and where I should bowl at. But execution is more important than anything. IPL is such a tournament that you end up knowing about the strengths and weaknesses of everyone because you are playing with so many people in the same side."

With senior pros Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami warming the benches, Bhuvneshwar is now the leader of the Indian bowling attack but he does not want to look at it from that angle.

"I won't say I am a premier bowler or anything, because we are all trying to work hard and whoever gets the opportunity, wants to do well. Workload is taken care of a lot more these days. The support staff is working very hard on getting that right for us. It comes with time and adapting to the work culture," he said.

Of late, Bhuvneshwar, the batsman has also come to the fore with some important cameos.

"I have natural talent when it comes to batting. It is not that I have done anything different to get better with the bat. It's very different in Tests and ODIs though. ODI is a format where I mostly need to hit out at the position where I bat."

"The knock against Sri Lanka (2nd ODI) actually gave me a lot of confidence. There is now a mindset that I need to work on partnerships."