Six years since his appearance in the Ranji Trophy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar marked his return to India’s premiere domestic red-ball tournament in style on Friday. Bhuvneshwar led Uttar Pradesh’s fightback against Bengal at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur, claiming a five-wicket on Day 1 of the contest. After UP were bowled out for 60 in their first innings, Bhuvneshwar bagged a five-for to restrict Bengal to 95/5 at Stumps. The 33-year-old started his spell with wickets of Sourav Paul and Sudip Kumar Gharami, respectively, before dismissing getting Anustup Majumdar, captain Manoj Tiwary and Ishan Porel.
.@BhuviOfficial on fire
A five-wicket haul and he’s taken all Bengal wickets to fall so far. What a splendid spell @IDFCFIRSTBank | #RanjiTrophy | #UPvBEN
Follow the match https://t.co/yRqgNJxmLY pic.twitter.com/Dqu0OgJMk0
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) January 12, 2024
For the record, Kumar hasn’t been part of India’s Test squad since 2018 and was last seen against South Africa. He last played a Test in Johannesburg almost six years ago.
With India set to play a five-match Test series against England, starting later this month, fans have urged the selectors to give Bhuvneshwar a second chance, especially with premiere pacer Mohammed Shami out injure.
Here are some of the reactions:
See BCCI why you ruined Bhuvi career… Imagine if he played in England would be Better than Jimmy Anderson…
— Himanshu Gupta (@IamHimanshgupta) January 12, 2024
Comeback please to the test side
— Goodwill (@Vicky1297064394) January 12, 2024
Bhuvi deserve a second chance. It’s very unfair what selectors doing to him
— Umran Malik Extra (@157KPH) January 12, 2024
Speaking of the match, Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary had won the toss and opted to bowl first in Kanpur.
For Uttar Pradesh, Samarth Singh, Aryan Juyal and captain Nitish Rana the only ones to get to double figures.
For Bengal, Mohammad Kaif was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/14, while Suraj Jaiswal and Ishan Porel took three and two wickets respectively.
In response, Shreyansh Ghosh’s unbeaten 37 allowed Bengal to take a 35-run lead on Day 1, which was dominated by bowlers.
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