Out of favour Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar made the headlines with his brilliant bowling in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2023-24 match between Uttar Pradesh and Bengal at Green Park in Kanpur on Friday, January 12.
Bhuvneshwar made his return to first-class cricket after a gap of six years in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season. However, the 33-year-old seemed to have lost his bowling rhythm as he made remarkable comeback with five-wicket haul against Bengal.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked all five wickets of Bengal's first innings batting in Kanpur. Till 11th over, visitors didn't lose a single wicket until Bhuvneshwar triggered their batting collapse. At the end of Day 1, Bengal posted a total of 95/5 in 28 overs.
Veteran Indian pacer's brilliant bowling reduced Bengal from 32/0 to 82/5, all within span of 11 overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked the wickets of Sourav Paul (11), Sudip Gharami (0), Anustup Majumdar Majumdar (12), Manoj Tiwari (3) and Abhishek Porel (12) to finish the figures of 5/25, including 3 maidens, at an economy rate of 1.90 in 13 overs on Day 1.
Uttar Pradesh bundled out for 60 on Day 1
After Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwari put Uttar Pradesh to batting, the hosts failed to put up a good first innings as they were skittled out for mere 60 runs.
Uttar Pradesh's batting toppled from 44/4 to 60 all-out, losing six wickets in just 16 runs. Opener Samarth Singh was the top-scorer for the hosts in the first innings with just 13 runs, followed by wicketkeeper Aryan Juyal and Nitish Rana who scored 11 runs each.
For Bengal, Mohammed Kaif led the bowling attack with four-wicket haul, while Suraj Jaiswal scalped three wickets. Ishan Porel also contributed with two wickets.
Interestingly, Mohammed Kaif is happened to be cousin of Mohammed Shami who also represented Bengal in Indian domestic cricket.
