India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar said that his three-wicket haul in the 36-run win over Australia in a World Cup match is a huge morale-booster for him as it came on a flat batting deck.
Bhuvneshwar was the pick of the India bowlers, taking 3 for 50 in his 10 over quota in India’s win against the defending champion in its second World Cup game.
“This performance is very satisfying because if you look at the conditions, it is fully in favour of batsmen. There’s nothing much for the bowler and managing to get them out on this wicket has been a good boost,” Bhuvneshwar said during his interaction in mixed zone after Sunday’s match.
David Warner struggled during his 65 off 84 balls and Bhuvneshwar attributed it to proper planning by his team’s bowlers.
“Since there wasn’t much help from the wicket, we didn’t wish to give them much room and we capitalised on it. That was our plan,” he said.
The most important wicket was former skipper Steve Smith which effectively closed the game in India’s favour, according to Bhuvneshwar.
“I bowled a slower one and he missed it. That’s how I got the wicket. In fact, shuffling across to the off-stump is his strength and he gets maximum runs that way. This time he missed. He missed that ball and it was a good thing for us,” he added.
The bowling unit was mentally prepared for a grind and the primary aim was to make life difficult for batsmen.
“The Oval has always been a good batting track and there’s not much for the bowlers. We knew, it would be a high-scoring match and we were mentally prepared. We just tried to make it difficult for the batsmen with slower balls and other variations,” he said.
We ticked all boxes, says Dhawan
Meanwhile, opener Shikhar Dhawan hailed India’s performance in all three departments of the game.
“It’s a great sign for our team and I’m happy with this man of the match award,” said Dhawan, who hit a 109-ball 117.
“Very happy with the performance overall. We are a great fielding side, we took great catches. We have a good bowling side, great spinners as well.”
While Dhawan scored his 17th ODI hundred, Rohit Sharma continued his good run with a 70-ball 57 and skipper Virat Kohli hit 82 off 77 balls as India posted a massive 352 for 5.
In reply, Australia was bowled out for 316.
“We work really hard in the nets, our process is very strong that’s why the results are going our way. We ticked all the boxes today,” Dhawan said.
“We knew they are a great side and the match will go down to the wire. We need to continue ticking the boxes in upcoming matches.”
India will next take on New Zealand at Nottingham on June 13.
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