Asia Cup 2022, India vs Pakistan: How survivor Bhuvneshwar Kumar swung it his way

Reduced to being a T20 specialist, challenged by injuries & competition, pacer quietly wins back place as lynchpin of the attackDUBAI: Four years ago, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was at the top of his game here in Dubai. With Jasprit Bumrah evolving rapidly as a bowler at the other end, Bhuvneshwar became India's first pick in white-ball cricket. That he was falling behind in Test cricket, despite a productive record, hardly came up for debate.

Read AlsoAsia Cup 2022, India vs Pakistan Highlights: Hardik's all-round show helps India pull off a scrappy win over Pakistan

Hardik Pandya's all-round brilliance powered India to a thrilling five-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan in an Asia Cup game on Sunday. Pandya ended with figures of 3/25 in 4 overs while restricting Pakistan to 147 in 19.5 overs and then smashed 33* off 17 balls with the winning six in the last

Bhuvneshwar's potency with the new ball has overshadowed his capabilities at the deep end of a game. The dream run continued till the 2019 World Cup. A never-ending wait to recover from a hamstring injury saw a host of fast bowlers springing up from India's massive resource pool. By the time he took the field back for India in 2021, Bhuvi had to fight for his place. The indifferent performance in the T20 World Cup last here in Dubai dragged him to the edge. The annihilation at the hands of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan had put his future in Team India Blues in serious doubt. "That was one match which didn't go my way. That can happen to anybody. I got back to doing what I used to do, the same drills and routine which are very boring," Bhuvneshwar asserted after his masterclass performance on Sunday.

Now he is back in Dubai again, this time just as a T20 specialist. He