It’s a Bhuvi-Tendla moment!
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar is still in search of a proper dictionary to find the right word for his feelings at the early stage of his career.
The precious moment of his life came in 2009. The 19-year-old young Bhuvi, eyes filled with dreams was representing Uttar Pradesh in first-class cricket.
The captain Mohammed Kaif, handed him over the bowl to confront the Little Master on the other side. It was the 14th delivery of his spell. Md. Kaif had placed the fielder in an unorthodox position.
Now, what happened?
The right-arm pace bowler’s cutter kissed the inside edge of the Master Blaster’s bat and after hitting the pads, jumped onto the air. The fielder at deep-short leg ran for it and nailed it.
2009 to 2020. Gomati has seen a lot of changes in her banks.
The 30-year-old pace bowler claimed in a webinar, “It was a kind of cutter and it held its line till the last moment. There aren’t many bowlers in the world who are experts in that and I always say that the credit for the wicket also goes to Kaif. This is because he placed the fielder in a very awkward position.
Generally, there is no such position in the book. But the ball went to the fielder and he didn’t make any mistake with the catch. So I would say that the credit should also go to Kaif.”
Bhuvi is still in search of words to define his reaction inside out.
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has represented India as a fast bowler in all the three formats of the game.
He recalls that as a teenager, like all aspiring cricketer he too worshipped the Master Blaster. He was an idol for all of them. No doubt, he still is, for many. They shared the adjacent rooms.
And Bhuvi would intentionally get late only to have Tendulkar out of his room and walk towards the lift. The intention was to have a close look at the master and his rituals before the game.
He continued, “Inside the lift, I was noticing him while he was busy with his phone. I was so in awe of him that I was just seeing how he behaves before the match. When I was to bowl at him, I was just thinking about the fact that I am now going to bowl at him.
I was not focusing on how I have to bowl. A 19-year-old kid was just bowling at the best batsman in the world and he was not sure of what he was doing. It was such an awe-inspiring moment for me.”
The young man followed his dreams and played alongside his idol.
