Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s fine show (three for nine) on debut against Pakistan may have gone in vain as India suffered a five-wicket defeat at Bangalore on Tuesday, but the Uttar Pradesh seamer’s efforts drew unstinted praise from State coach Venkatesh Prasad.
The former India seamer, who also served as bowling coach to M.S. Dhoni’s men, said: “It was a fine start. Bhuvneshwar is a very smart bowler, he may not have the pace but he has all the variations, can swing it well and he always reads the situation well, he observes the batsmen closely.” Prasad also struck an optimistic note about India’s bowling reserves though he added that more fast bowlers were emerging than spinners.
“There is enough talent and we do have a young crop coming through. Just that we are having more seamers coming up the ranks. Yes we do have a spin-legacy but somewhere the message has gone missing. For instance, at the domestic level, the trend is to have more seamer-friendly wickets and when you then have spinning pitches for Tests, there is an obvious difference in the quality,” Prasad said.
