Gros Islet: Indian medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has said that he did not expect a handsome return on Day four of the third Test, even as his 5 for 33 broke the back of West Indies’ innings and bowled them out for 225 runs.

India’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar congratulated by teammates after a wicket.

At stumps, the visitors were leading by overall 285 runs with a day to play.

“The biggest point was that the ball was swinging and when that happens it is a boost for me. I have a better chance to take wickets,” said Kumar after the day’s play.

“After lunch, I could do that and when you get one wicket you get the confidence that you can bowl further. When I was bowling it was the same in my mind that these are the 7-8 overs in which I can take wickets. I did not think I would take five wickets but that comes with the momentum,” he added.

The slide began after lunch as West Indies crashed from 194/3 to 225 all out within 20.4 overs.

Kumar bowled 10.4 overs on the trot and took 5/14 as the hosts lost their last six wickets for just 23 runs.

“We had a talk within the team if we can get them out before tea we will have enough time to get them out twice. We discussed our plans and we knew what we had to do.

After lunch when I got the first wicket I knew that this is the time if we can get one or two wickets we can get them out.

“So our mindset was such that we had to get them out quickly if we had to win the match,” said the medium pacer.

Kumar said it’s difficult to say he will get the swing on Saturday.

“If you see earlier in the first innings, I did not get as much swing. Maybe the wicket was a bit damp. Today I got a lot of swing, maybe the ball was a good one. It is tough to predict for tomorrow, but there is something in the pitch for the bowlers so I think we can get them out again,” he added.

Kumar’s last Test was in Australia in January last year, and while he has been playing limited-overs cricket on and off, he had mainly been forced out of the first eleven owing to injury problems. It had resulted in slacking form with the ball, but now he seems to be back at full fitness and moving the ball at will once again.

“I played Test cricket after almost one and a half years. I did not do anything specific during this duration except working on my fitness because
that is most essential in Test cricket. Then we had the preparatory camp in Bengaluru, so that’s the time when I started preparing for this series in particular,” he said.

“I just knew that it will swing a bit here and there will be something for the fast bowlers to exploit. It is not necessary that you might get wickets, but it should not be that you are not prepared,” he added.

He said he was a bit nervous when he found out that he was playing this match.

Source From : firstpost.com