Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was included in the playing eleven of the first T20I match against Pakistan at Bengaluru following Parvinder Awana's poor showing in the previous series against England. He took 3 wickets for 9 runs in 4 overs in the match with an economy rate of 2.25. He took the wickets of Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal.

He opened his account in ODIs by taking a wicket in the first ball that he bowled, dismissing Mohammad Hafeez of Pakistan.. After this great performance his way to success as an important player in Indian cricket went on.

In his debut Test series, he took 6 wickets in four matches against Australia in the 2013 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He also had a record partnership with M. S. Dhoni for the 9th wicket in the first Test of the series. He has the highest score by an Indian number 10 on debut, 38.

Kumar made his debut on 22 February 2013 against Australia during 1st test of Australia Tour to India in 2013. He was given the test cap by Ishant Sharma. He struggled to take any wickets in the first innings, mainly because it was more of a spin track rather than a swing and pace favourable pitch. Later, in the same test during India's batting, he helped set up a massive partnership of 140 runs for the 9th wicket with M. S. Dhoni. This partnership helped India establish a lead of 192 runs. During this course, he was part of a few records and was given a standing ovation by the team and the crowd once he got out with a score of 38 runs (off 97 balls). When India went on to field in the second innings he didn't get a chance to bowl and went wicketless on his debut. In his second test match, he got three wickets getting Australia's David Warner, Ed Cowan and Shane Watson out. In the first innings of his second test against Australia, Kumar went wicketless, mainly because he could not get the ball to swing and was given very few overs (6 in a spell and then a single over). But in the second innings, he took the important wickets of Shane Watson, David Warner and Steve Smith claiming 6 wickets at an average of 22.83 and an economy rate of 3.91.

Kumar was a part of the team which won the 2013 Champions Trophy.[8] He was also named as part of the 'Team of the Tournament' by the ICC and Cricinfo.[9][10]

On 9 July 2013, he posted career-best figures on 4–8 against Sri Lanka in the Tri-Nation tournament, which India would go on to win. He was awarded the "Man of the Series" in this tournament after he finished the series with most wickets.[11]

Kumar proved that he could be handy with the bat in Test matches when he scored 2 consecutive half-centuries in the 1st test of the Investec Test Series 2014 against England with scores of 58 and 63*. He also had his 1st five-wicket haul in his test career in the first innings of the same match. Kumar had his second five-wicket haul in the next match of the same series and got his third fifty in Test in the same match. He became the first Indian number 9 player to get three fifties in one series, even going on to add career-best bowling figures of 6/82 versus England at Lord's. Despite India losing the series 1–3, he was named the Indian Player of the Series.[12]

Kumar was expected to start in all matches for the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup but could not due to poor fitness. He started only one match against UAE. His 2016 season was restricted to only four tests.

In the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, he led the Indian bowling attack alongside Jasprit Bumrah and reached the finals with the team. He was also included in the Team of the Tournament of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. He was selected in the ODI XI of the year 2017 by Cricinfo.[13]

On 18 February 2018, Kumar picked up five wickets in the first T20I against South Africa, where India won by 28 runs. This bowling spell of 5/24 was his best in T20Is. He also became the second Indian bowler to take 5 wickets in T20Is.[14] On 24 February, Kumar picked up two wickets in the third T20I in a seven-run victory over South Africa winning the three-match series 1–2. After picking seven wickets in the T20I series, he became the Indian fast bowler with most wickets in a bilateral T20I series, he was also awarded the Player of the Series.[15]

In January 2019, in the first ODI against Australia, Kumar took his 100th wicket in ODIs.[16] In April 2019, he was named in India's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.[17][18] However, he was ruled out for many matches in the middle due to a leg injury.