When Bhuvneshwar Kumar hit the international scene, in 2012, with the T20I against Pakistan, the mind invariably raced to another Kumar from his hometown of Meerut. Bhuvneshwar was quintessentially a younger, albeit a calmer version of Praveen Kumar. Comparisons in sports often crop from the watchers and writers’ self-indulgence in romanticism, or in some cases, pure desperation to find a context. However, in the case of Bhuvneshwar and Praveen, these comparisons were much closer to the reality. A clean, steady action, the guile of a street-smart pace bowler coming through the grind of Uttar Pradesh’s dense and competitive corners, and the natural ability to make the cricket ball whirl in the wind, were the unmistakable common factors. The most important aspect of this similarity theory is the fact that the two men themselves are happy to acknowledge and accept they are each other’s mirror image with the ball. Bhuvneshwar, four years Praveen’s junior, considers PK bhaihis first role-model, and after over a decade of playing with him, a dear friend. Praveen talks about Bhuvneshwar with the protectiveness and pride of an elder brother combined with a deep respect for his skills. This and many other facets of their relationship came to the fore during their conversation with BCCI.TV. Here is a sneak peek into the special bond developed and shared between the Kumars of Meerut over more than a decade. Praveen, talk about the first time you saw Bhuvneshwar and how he has developed as a bowler since then. Praveen: We played and practised together in Victoria Park. I first watched him when he played in the U-16 level. His in-swinger was excellent even in those days. He caught my eyes and I put in a word for him at the UPCA. When you spread the word around for someone who is really good, it creates an interest and builds an atmosphere for him to go forward. He was very young then, his body was yet to develop and the ball didn’t go as powerfully. Now he has gotten physically much stronger and he has started to put his whole body on the ball. He bowls 140-142 kph now and has learned a lot skill-wise, being around among international cricketers and coaches. He added the out-swinger to his repertoire very early, during his U-19 days. And he showed that the very first time he played for India. He swung the ball brilliantly both ways with nip. When I saw him bowl in his debut game, I felt like, ‘Yes, now he cannot be stopped’. Bhuvneshwar, can you recollect your early days when you came across Praveen and how you developed a bond with him? Bhuvneshwar: As PK bhai said, we first met at the Victoria Park. I remember he was batting when the first time I saw him. Gradually I had some conversations with him and he very kindly passed on his knowledge to me. Having him around has been very advantageous for me throughout my career. The best thing about him is that whenever I ask him for an advice, the first thing he always says is, ‘You’re doing well’. He starts every conversation with words of encouragement and then goes on to add whatever he thinks I can improve on. Bhuvneshwar, what is your favourite Praveen Kumar performance? Bhuvneshwar: It is his 4 for 46 in the second final of the CB Series in 2008. It helped India defend 258 runs against Australia and we won the series. And of course, the Lord’s five-wicket haul (5 for 106) in 2011 is right up there. When I watched that Lord’s performance, I thought to myself, ‘Man, what fun it would be to bowl in England!’ Seeing the ball swing so much generated a curiosity within me, and since then I looked forward to bowling there. When you see someone your own, who you consider as your role model, do well somewhere, it ignites a special spark in you to repeat the feat. And you did repeat it, in 2014. You picked up 6 for 82 in India’s historic Test win at Lord’s in 2014. Praveen, is that your favourite performance of Bhuvneshwar? Praveen: It is. He bowled long spells and maintained the intensity throughout. He could do that because we are so used to bowling long spells of 12-15 overs at the domestic level. It has become second nature to us. We are, in fact, happier to bowl longer spells. When I watched him bowl in that Test match, it took me back to when I took a five-for at Lord’s. It brought back all the memories and I felt so proud that another bowler from Meerut has done so well at the Lord’s. Given the way he was bowling, I was very confident that he would get them out. The feeling of a ground being special comes when you do well there. He took six wickets and his name was on the honours board. We can proudly tell our family, friends and the people who like our bowling that yes, even our name is on the board there alongside some greats. That is a wonderful feeling. Bhuvneshwar, you had a wonderful tour of England. Did you take some tips from Praveen before you left for that series? Bhuvneshwar: I did spend a lot of time with him. We did nets together and I asked him about how to bowl there and what were the key areas to keep in mind. Again, he started off by saying, ’You’re doing well, so don’t think too much’. Then he gave me some useful tips, spoke about the slope at the Lord’s and how to negotiate that. He made things very simple for me, which made it easy for me to grasp them. Bhuvneshwar, can you elaborate on how much having someone like Praveen helped you during your formative days as a bowler? Bhuvneshwar: I have learnt a lot from him in terms of reading the game and the batsman. These things don’t matter much in age-group cricket; they get hidden. But when you come to the big level, it helps tremendously to have a mentor by your side. I was so lucky to have someone like him because we are very similar bowlers. I didn’t have to go anywhere further away; it was like I got everything in my own house. Those little conversations about how much and which way the ball is moving or cutting, and what the batsman is trying to do, all that played an important part in my development. Who is the better batsman between the two of you? Praveen: Bhuvi is better. He has scored fifties in Test cricket, hundreds at first-class level and has won many matches for us with the bat. Bhuvneshwar: It depends on the situation. As batsmen we are very different. When the need of the hour is to stay at the wicket and bat long, I can do it better, but if the situation demands quick runs, PK bhai can do it better than me. I am trying to hit as hard and long as he does. I don’t know if I will reach that level, but I am trying. As PK bhai rightly said, I have become stronger now and hopefully that will help me generate more power in my shots. Praveen, you have always been good with the yorkers. But Bhuvneshwar has had to work on it, and he has improved in that aspect, in terms of death bowling. Praveen: See, it all depends on what situation of the game you are coming in to bowl. In the early part of his career, he didn’t get enough chances to bowl in the death. Now he has started to get more chances and he is delivering. It wasn’t that he was not learning to bowl yorkers. I played with him in the last IPL and saw how frequently and consistently he bowled yorkers in the nets. Since the time he started out, he was tagged as a new-ball bowler. He bowled 7-8 overs at a stretch and had hardly any role to play in the death. Now he is getting that opportunity and he has proved that he can succeed there as well. Did you help Bhuvneshwar out with the yorkers? Praveen: Of all the things we have in common, one is that we don’t talk too much to anyone. We tend to pick things up by observing others and trying them ourselves. I don’t think anyone taught him how to bowl the out-swinger or the yorker. There are certain things you discover about your bowling along the way – your arm sets in, your body is in the line of the ball and then you practise. Bhuvneshwar: It comes from within, that passion that I want to learn this new delivery. But some small inputs from someone – little intricacies that you might not know of – go a long way in developing a new skill. When I started playing cricket, I was an in-swing bowler. Then suddenly the ball started to swing away and I lost my in-swinger for a while. I did not know how or why it was happening. But since the in-swinger came naturally to me and I knew exactly how I bowled it, it helped me figure out what I was doing differently for the ball to move away. I started to understand my own game and body movements and learned how to use both the deliveries effectively. One thing I have learned from PK bhai is that rather than asking others, you should be able to find answers for yourself. That is how you become more aware of your own game and develop good understanding of it. For that I watch and observe the other bowlers. Whenever I have a question about my bowling I don’t understand, I like to observe PK bhai bowl – how his hand is coming, how wide the arm is, etc. The things you learn this way are inculcated in your mind more strongly. Praveen: I completely agree with him. If, for instance, I can’t do something; if my ball is not swinging, I would ask him to bowl that delivery. I watch his every move closely, and it tells me, ‘Yes, maybe my foot and the arm are not aligned or maybe the wrist is not in the right direction’. This has happened many times over the course of 10-12 years that we have played together. In this regards it is a boon to have someone who bowls just like you. It’s like looking in the mirror and watching yourself. I even watched Zak bhai (Zaheer Khan) closely. He used to bowl a delivery with his thumb behind the ball. That ball went differently – faster and with nip. I picked up that delivery from him and now I use it regularly. Bhuvneshwar, is there anything in particular you have picked up from watching some of the bowlers in the Indian team? Bhuvneshwar: I try to pick up from everyone. Ishant, for instance, is a very different bowler from I am. But there are still some small things that I can learn by watching him. The way he has been bowling since the last few months, his in-swinger is coming really well and he is also getting the ball to cut off the pitch. I have been trying to do that; it hasn’t come off so far but if I continue to work on it, I will get there. There is a lot to learn from Shami – the way the ball comes out of his hand, off the wicket. Mohit bowls the back-of-the-hand slower one. I ask him how he does it, and I try it myself. It is not necessary that you can learn from someone only if his style and game is similar to yours. How did you learn the reverse swing? Bhuvneshwar: That is a skill you develop along the way. Earlier, I knew how to get the new ball to swing in or away. Once, when bowling with the old ball, I tried to bowl an in-swinger and the ball swung away. I didn’t know how that happened. I spoke to the coaches and the seniors around me at the Victoria Park and got to know about the concept of reverse swing. Then you start thinking about it and learn how to maintain the shine on one side of the ball. You learn what fields to set and how to set up the batsman for it. Praveen: I learned to reverse the ball by watching Waqar Younis on the TV. I saw that the bowlers with a side-on action tend to reverse the ball more, so I began to bowl from that angle. Later on I picked up more on that from Zak bhai – the minor aspects that you cannot see on the TV. Again, it’s all about keeping your eyes and mind open, and soaking in whatever you think will help you. Praveen, Bhuvneshwar has obviously learned so much from you. Is there anything you have picked up from him? Praveen: When he bowls his in-swinger, he uses his body very well. In fact, I was having a chat with him about it just a couple of days back. I told him, ‘Yaar, mera body nahi lag raha (I am not being able to put my body behind the ball)’. So, we talked about it and he told me certain things I could do. I have made those subtle changes in my action to put the body more on the line. There is a lot you go through as professional sportsmen – lack of form, injury or the disappointment of being dropped. Do you confide in each other at these times? Praveen: No. Never. If something is bothering me, I tend to go into my shell. I just go far away and be on my own. Bhuvneshwar: The good thing is that when we are on the ground, these things are not on our minds. Sometimes, even though I know he is bothered about something, when I see him working hard in the nets or bowling during a match, I don’t like to bring the issue up. When someone is trying to focus on the game, you just let them do it, rather than taking their mind back to that issue. I don’t talk to anyone about cricket. Outside cricket, I don’t have any friend with whom I can talk cricket. Even on the field or in the team, there are very few people I open up to. I am a private person that way. You have played with each other at the domestic level for a long time. In 2015 you played for the same IPL team – Sunrisers Hyderabad. How was that experience? Praveen: Oh, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a different experience to play the IPL with him. We bowled well together, bowled some good yorkers from both ends and picked wickets in tandem. We were enjoying each other’s bowling. Bhuvneshwar: Having him around during IPL matches was wonderful for me. He would come to me and hit me with different ideas every time I was going for runs or couldn’t get a wicket. There is so much more you can learn during a match than you ever will in the nets. There were many occasions when small tips from him helped me get through a tricky period and I got wickets. Praveen, do you think Bhuvneshwar has lost his swing a bit lately? Praveen: Not at all. Just because the ball doesn’t swing in a match or two, it doesn’t mean he has forgotten how to do it. I am telling you, Bhuvi is the kind of bowler who can swing the ball at will.