Watch: Bhuvneshwar Kumar cleans bowls Jos Buttler with a dream delivery

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been in outstanding form, of late. The Indian seamer has looked threatening every time he has come out to bowl in the power play. On Thursday, the 32-year-old fast bowler bowled one of the best inswinging deliveries of his career.

After posting a formidable score on the board, India needed the bowlers to take early wickets to build pressure on England. And, Bhuvneshwar Kumar did just that. The Hyderabad pacer bowled a delivery which a bit tad fuller and came in to the batter.

The ball swung way too much and Jos Buttler, perhaps, wasn’t expecting that. As a result, the ball crashed into the stumps after brushing his pads. The England skipper went back to the hut on the very first ball of his spell.

Bhuvneshar troubled both Roy and Malan with his ability to swing both ways. He conceded just 3 runs in his first over and followed it with a 7-run over. The senior pacer bowled his third over also in the power play and conceded only three runs. He finished with outstanding returns of 1 for 10 in 3 overs.

His terrific spell in the power-play meant, England could only manage to score 32 runs in the first six overs and lost three wickets as well. Buttler and Co. couldn’t set the tone for the run-chase and, as a result, were bundled out for 148 runs, thereby falling 50 runs short of the target.

Earlier, India notched a mammoth score of 198 runs in the first innings. Hardik Pandya notched the first half-century of his T20 international career and also picked 4 wickets in the second innings. The likes of Suryakumar Yadav (39 off 19) and Deepak Hooda (33 off 17) also made notable contributions with the bat.

The second T20 international is slated to be played on Saturday at Edgbaston ground in Birmingham. Senior players such as Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant will mark their return in the squad.