Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s in-swinger is similar to mine: Praveen Kumar

Kings XI Punjab made a few changes in their batting along the way in IPL 2013, but the bowling has remained more or less constant. Led by Praveen Kumar, they have a solid Indian core group of pace bowlers with Parvinder Awana and Manpreet Gony as the other members.

With 10 wickets in 12 matches at 6.77 runs per over, Praveen has been a handy swing bowler for KXIP. After their loss to Rajasthan Royals at home, Praveen spoke to iplt20.com about his performance in the tournament.

He also spoke fondly about his young Uttar Pradesh team-mate, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has been a real find for India this season and will go with the National team to England for the Champions Trophy.

You’ve been the leading bowler of KXIP this season. How are you feeling about your rhythm?

I’m feeling good about it and really enjoying myself. It’s been 11 matches and I am pretty pleased with my performance so far. The best thing about KXIP’s bowling attack is that we’re a core group of Indian bowlers. We also have a variety with two fast bowlers and one swing bowler. Someone bowls well in the death, someone gets the early breakthroughs. We have been working hard as a group.

Being one of the consistent bowlers in IPL, what have you taken from this tournament?

I learnt the technicalities of bowling much before I started playing the IPL. But what I have learnt from this tournament is to be accurate. The margin for error is very low in this format and you pay a much higher price for waywardness here. The success in implementing this comes from playing this format regularly.

Is it difficult for a swing bowler like you to bowl at the death?

It doesn’t make a difference to me – I open the bowling and also bowl in the death and I don’t think it’s that hard. Yes, your strategy changes a lot when bowling in the end. You don’t get the swing and you have to bowl a lot of Yorkers, slower balls and slower bouncers. You also have to practice more on death bowling in T20s.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar considers you his bowling idol. What do you think of him?

He’s a very good lad. I have liked him since the day he came to our club in Victoria Bagh and since his Under-19 days. He’s a hard-worker and I truly hope he achieves much more in his career.

How do you think he will fare on the English wickets at the Champions Trophy and what advice would you give him?

I would just tell him to go enjoy himself, try different food there and work hard on his game. About bowling and batting he knows very well what to do.

What do you like the most about his bowling? He’s very similar to you.

Yes, he bowls very much like me. I like his in-swinger; he bowls it just like I do. As far as improvement is concerned, he will keep learning the more he plays. He is playing for India now and the learning opportunities will be many.

source: iplt20.com