Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowls in the nets ahead of India vs Pakistan World Cup clash

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Adelaide, Feb 13 - Injury-plagued medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar continued his recovery as he bowled in the nets on Friday during India's practice session here at the St. Peter's College Ground.

The 25-year-old missed the first three Tests against Australia due to an ankle injury and played only two matches in the One-Day International (ODI) tri-series against Australia and England. In the second warm-up game against Afghanistan, he did bowl five overs.

However, the medium pacer bowled from a much shorter run-up and neither did he bend full stretch. However, he did not lack accuracy as he hit the one stump on view time and again.

The side nets were used by the Indian batsmen to face throwdowns from the support staff who stood on stools. This involved a man standing with the ball in his sidearm device on one stool, taking a step forward onto the shorter second stool as if in delivery stride, and then throwing the ball.

It was probably a practice strategy to simulate the steep bounce generated by Pakistani pacer Mohammad Irfan. Most of the time, the balls were dug in short on the greenish side pitches, especially to left-hander Suresh Raina, and were tackled reasonably well by the Indian batsmen.