In his very first match as India’s captain, Ajinkya Rahane was faced with a few nervous moments. Chasing India’s 255, Zimbabwe got to the threshold of victory with 10 runs needed in the last over. With their captain Elton Chigumbura still there, batting on a 100-plus score, the odds were in favour of the batting side. When Rahane lobbed the ball to Bhuvneshwar Kumar to bowl the final over, he put a calm face forward and gave his bowler all the confidence he could. Rahane told bcci.tv that his faith in Bhuvi never faltered. “I was confident about my bowlers, especially Bhuvi and Dhawal Kulkarni in the last five overs. I knew they will deliver for me,” Rahane said. “Deep inside I was a little nervous because it got very tight in the end. But as the captain I had to look cool and calm. “I knew it would not be easy for them to get 10 runs off the last over. All I did was give confidence to my bowler. Bhuvi is a very experienced bowler and I saw how well he bowled at the death in the IPL. He has really worked on his game and improved as a bowler.” Before coming on to bowl in the final five overs, Bhuvi had bowled parsimonious eight overs for 16 runs and a wicket. In the 48th over, he leaked 14 runs including two boundaries and a catch was put down off his bowling. Now coming on to bowl the final over, the pressure was on the bowler. But he didn’t let it get to him and mess with his head. “What I really liked about Bhuvi in the last game was that he kept things very simple even in that tough situation,” Rahane observed. “Sometimes bowlers tend to over-think and try different things, which Bhuvi didn’t do. The way he handled the last two overs and came back to bowl the brilliant last over after going for a few runs in the previous one really impressed me. “The fact that he was so accurate also made me very sure as a captain what field I had to set for him because I knew exactly where he was going to bowl.” The bowler justified his captain’s faith in him. The first three balls of the over yielded four runs. Chigumbura preferred to play two dot balls thereafter to protect his tailender in the hope of getting the boundary-ball that never came. Four of the six balls in that over were yorkers and one a difficult low full-toss. In the end India won the game by four runs. But Bhuvi was not always one of the chosen bowlers for the death. He began his international career as a predominantly new-ball bowler who struggled to hold things together once the ball got old and stopped swinging. But it is an aspect the 25-year-old has worked on thoroughly over the years. The results were visible in the 2015 IPL when he emerged as one of the best death bowlers in the tournament. Rahane praised Bhuvi’s ability to understand his own game and make improvements accordingly. “He thinks really well about his bowling and what he needs to do. As a player if you are successful in understanding and analyzing your own game, you will improve much faster than if you wait for someone else to come and guide you. Bhuvi does that very well. “He knows his strengths and limitations very well. He knows that pace is not a big part of his bowling and so he focuses all his energy on bowling the right line and length and getting the ball to swing. It becomes the captain’s life easier to have a bowler like that,” Rahane said.