Bowling more slower balls is key to India's win: Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Johannesburg, February 19: Bhuvneshwar Kumar said the key to India's success in the first T20I was changing the pace and bowling more slower deliveries at the Wanderers on Sunday (February 18).

Bhuvneshwar (5 for 24) grabbed his maiden five-wicket haul in T20 internationals to help India notch up a 28-run win.

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"What I was trying to do is bring about change of pace in my bowling. I just wanted to take the pace off the ball because I knew it won't be easy to hit the ball and that's what I did. The important thing is how you mix your deliveries according to the wicket," he said.

"For instance, today we bowled a lot of slow balls. It was a part of our strategy on this wicket, to do away with pace and make it difficult for the batsmen to score. Apart from line and length, it's important to understand how you want to mix your deliveries. It matters. Today, for instance, it was about bowling slow," he said.

Bhuvneshwar became the first Indian pacer to pick up five wickets in each format of the game. The pacer said managing workloads and fitness has been the key to his success.

"First thing, it comes with fitness. It's not easy playing all three formats, especially on a single tour. So the first thing before coming here what I wanted to do is manage workload. I wanted to practice but in a specific way, so as to not put extra workload on the body," he said.

Asked about his five-wicket haul, he said: "Taking wickets means a lot to me when you play for your country. It doesn't matter if you take five wickets or how many as long as you're winning matches for your country. That's what matters and taking fifers in every format feels good. I want to do it as long as possible."