The Rajiv Gandhi Stadium is not Bhuvneshwar Kumars home ground but the 23-year-old from Meerut may soon feel like adopting it. Three years ago Kumar handed Sachin Tendulkar his first golden duck in domestic cricket at the Uppal Stadium. In October,at this venue,he scored his maiden double hundred in first class cricket while representing Central Zone. Scalping Tendulkar has pushed lesser known bowlers into the limelight immediately,but Kumars progress has been steady. Saturday gave him more reason to extend his affair with the ground when he picked up the first three Australia wickets to fall,which in-turn saw him take another steady step in his international career which is eight ODIs,two T20s and two Tests old. Opener David Warner played onto the stumps but not before he was beaten by the movement into him by a delivery that initially looked like it would go across the left-handed batsman. Warners partner at the top Ed Cowan was trapped in front by a similar delivery. Shane Watsons keenness to seize the initiative succeeded and he had found the boundary past mid-wicket and backward point when Kumar had strayed. Kumar though got one to move in and trap Watson,who tried to pull but was beaten because the ball stayed lower than he had anticipated. Swing and seam movement,over which Kumar has mastery over,undid the Australian top-order and made life easier for the Indian spinners. After not getting a wicket in Chennai,Kumar had struck decisive bowls on the first day of the second Test. In nine overs he had taken three wickets for 36 runs in his first spell. We all know that spinners dominate in Indian conditions so its good if medium pacers can get at least two wickets, Kumar said at the end of the days play. He said that he earned rewards for bowling a tidy line and length. Something always happens during first hour. So I tried to bowl within the line of stumps. Since the wicket was slow in nature and the odd ball was keeping low,it (the plan) came off well. The young pacer didnt want to differentiate between his three scalps. Warner,Cowan and Watson have been scoring runs for Australia and I was happy to dismiss all three of them. It was always a dream to play Test for India and I was very happy when I got my first wicket. It could not have been better than this.
