‘Rahul Dravid spoke about him for five minutes’ – Dinesh Karthik recalls Dravid’s appreciation of Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Rahul Dravid. (Photo Source: MICHAEL ERREY/AFP /AFP via Getty Images)

Former India skipper Rahul Dravid has been coaching Team India for almost 16 months. Since he picked up the role, team India have mostly been on winning ways despite a couple of heartbreaks that came in the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup, last year.

While speaking in the ‘The Rise of New India’ show on Cricbuzz Plus, veteran India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik revealed an incident in which Dravid praised Bhuvneshwar Kumar during the team meeting after a batter-oriented game. Karthik opened up about how Dravid was appreciative of the bowler’s efforts after one of India’s recent victories.

“At the start of a team meeting, Rahul Dravid literally spoke about him for five minutes. Just saying that he goes very unassumed, very quiet and I think it is very important to give the devil its due in a team meeting. He spoke about Bhuvneshwar Kumar and how he’s been profound in Indian cricket for the last so many years in white-ball cricket,” Karthik told Cricbuzz Plus.

“That was very good to hear because a lot of times we are always fascinated with batsmanship – people obviously hitting fours and sixes – but here is one guy who has consistently performed with the ball and been a prolific performer for Team India, apart from his franchise. A lot of credit must be given to Bhuvneshwar Kumar,” Karthik added.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the only player who dismissed Sachin Tendulkar for a duck in Ranji

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is one player who made a fairytale beginning for India. During the 2008-2009 season, he dismissed Sachin Tendulkar for a duck in Ranji Trophy, becoming the first player to do so, following which he had a phoenix-rise in Indian colours. He achieved this feat in the final between Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai, in which Mumbai won by 243 runs.

After the Ranji Trophy, he rattled arch-rivals Pakistan with a three-wicket burst on his T20I debut. He is the one who brought back the term banana swing into popular conscience, picking wickets of Nasser Jamshed, Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal with the trick. Notably, he became an all-format bowler for India but constant injury breakdowns limited him to white-ball cricket.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar will soon be spotted wearing the SRH jersey in the upcoming IPL as the side is scheduled to kickstart their proceedings on April 2 against Rajasthan Royals.