[Watch] Bhuvneshwar Kumar breaks Jimmy Neesham's bat, confuses everyone on the field in the 2nd IND vs NZ 2021 T20I
In a light on-field incident on Friday, Bhuvneshwar Kumar broke New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham's bat with his delivery, leaving most of the players confused for a couple of moments during the second T20I in Ranchi.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar didn't allow much hitting leeway to the Kiwi batters for the first four balls of the 18th over of the first innings.
Jimmy Neesham, batting skittishly at 3 (11), tried to go hard on the fifth ball which was hurled wide by the pacer, but didn't get any elevation. Instead, the ball hit the toe-end of the bat and snapped a chunk that went flying in the air.
This confused the batter, most Indian fielders, and even the on-air commentators into thinking that the ball had gone into the air when it only rolled back to Bhuvneshwar Kumar at the other end. The bowler even cheekily threatened to run out the non-striker Mitchell Santner, who was backing up but bailed at the end.
You can watch a video of the same here:
The New Zealand players in the dugout weren't spared from the confusion either. Skipper Tim Southee and Trent Boult let out a chuckle after seeing the incident unfold in front of their eyes, even as the batter asked for a bat change.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar gets Jimmy Neesham out on the next ball of breaking his bat
INNINGS BREAK!
Fine performance with the ball from #TeamIndia! 👍 👌
2⃣ wickets on debut for @HarshalPatel23
1⃣ wicket each for @ashwinravi99, @akshar2026, @BhuviOfficial & @deepak_chahar9
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Scorecard ▶️ bit.ly/IndvNZ2ndT20I https://t.co/iz8ogYly5i
If the bat-breaking drama wasn't enough, Bhuvneshwar Kumar got his man on the very next ball. It was the exact same delivery - from over the wicket, near the wide line, out of the left-hander's reach - and Jimmy Neesham once again went hard at it. This time he got the edge that went straight to Rishabh Pant.
But despite the loud sound, on-field umpire Anil Chaudhary didn't give it out, leading to some wide-eyed appeals from Pant and Bhuvneshwar Kumar who were already celebrating. India would have certainly reviewed it but Jimmy Neesham showed sportsmanship and walked back to the pavilion.
Anyway, his innings of 3 (12) did more harm than good to New Zealand as it shut down the slowly building momentum drastically. The batting side could only reach a total of 153-6, which is slightly below par considering the heavy dew on the ground.