 Ahmedabad: By his own admission, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was a bit "nervous" but certainly not overawed ahead of his dream debut against arch rivals Pakistan where he had stunning figures of 3/9 in four overs.
"Any Indian cricketer playing against Pakistan is excited. Like any other debutant, I was a bit nervous but there was no pressure to perform," said the young UP lad who has suddenly caught the imagination of the cricket crazy Indian fans.
Kumar had reduced Pakistan to 12 for three taking all the wickets in his first two overs when the vistors started the chase.
The all-rounder said his seniors told him to treat it as any "normal match."
"I played it like a normal match. The seniors came to me and told me play this like a normal match," he said.
The wicket at Motera will be completely different from the one in Bangalore which aided seamers.
"The conditions here is different. The one in Bangalore was seaming and over here, it will be slow and offer turn. The attempt will be to execute the plan and give our best shot."
He further said the team is not under pressure as they are 0-1 down in the series.
"There is no pressure on us. We play to win. In the last match, unfortunately we lost. But we will try our best to win this one," he said.
While Pakistan captain Mohammed Hafeez termed giant speedster Muhammad Irfan (7 ft 1 inch) as a "surprise package", Kumar wasn`t attributed with any such term by his skipper.
"Obviously, he (Dhoni) must have thought that I am not a surprise package and would have expected me to perform well."
PTI
First Published: Thursday, December 27, 2012, 19:13
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