The teenage swing bowler who dismissed Sachin Tendulkar for a first-class duck
In the 2008/09 Ranji Trophy final, a young Uttar Pradesh bowler named Bhuvneshwar Kumar became the first ever to get Sachin Tendulkar out for nought in first-class cricket. Known for swinging the ball in either direction at will, he went on to take five-wicket hauls for India in all three international formats.
Kumar was born in Meerut on 5 February 1990, the son of a police officer, Kiran Pal Singh. It was his sister who nudged him toward cricket, enrolling him at a coaching centre at the age of 13, and he made his first-class debut aged 17 against Bengal.
His international start in December 2012 was instant. On his T20 debut against Pakistan he struck in his first over and took three wickets, and in the one-day series that followed he claimed a wicket with his very first ball. Oddly, his first victim in every format was bowled. He helped India win the 2013 Champions Trophy and earned a spot in the ICC's Team of the Tournament. In July 2013 he took four wickets for eight runs against Sri Lanka, and on the 2014 tour of England his 6/82 at Lord's made him India's Player of the Series.
He became the first Indian bowler with five-wicket hauls in Tests, one-day internationals and T20 internationals, took his 100th ODI wicket in January 2019, and was the ICC's Player of the Month for March 2021. At the 2022 Asia Cup nobody took more than his 11 wickets, and he has twice served as India's vice-captain in white-ball series.
The IPL has been just as kind. His 23 wickets helped Sunrisers Hyderabad win the 2016 title, and he became the first bowler to take the Purple Cap, for most wickets in a season, two years running. Bought by Royal Challengers Bengaluru in November 2024, he took 17 wickets as they won the 2025 title. He married Nupur Nagar in Meerut in 2017.
Source: Bhuvneshwar Kumar
