IND vs ENG: Shardul's spell gave us an upper hand, says Bhuvneshwar

Bhuvneshwar Kumar heaped praise on fellow seamer Shardul Thakur, who took four wickets and helped India beat England by seven wickets in the final ODI.

Shardul Thakur celebrates with India skipper Virat Kohli after dismissing England's Dawid Malan during the third and final ODI.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar's resurgence as India's key weapon in limited-overs has been the biggest gain for India during the last three weeks. But the seasoned pacer was full of praise for fellow pacer Shardul Thakur during India's narrow win in the series decider on Sunday night.

"He performed really well. He came on as second change when the ball doesn't swing at all and it was a flat deck. It's very difficult for a bowler to bowl in such a situation," Bhuvneshwar said.

 

"He changed the match during that phase. He played the role that usually spinners play, we were one spinner short today. He gave the breakthrough and gave us an upper hand."

Besides his four wickets, Thakur's cameo with the bat also came in handy with India scraping home by just seven runs. Bhuvneshwar said Thakur has emerged as a confident player over the last three months.

"He has improved quite a lot. He's a typical player that the team aspires for. He is high on confidence and performs really well, be it in T20s or ODIs," he said.