Indian pacer, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, registered his maiden five-wicket haul in the fifth match of the series against Sri Lanka today. It was a pleasing sight for the fans as well as Bhuvneshwar considering the fact that he had not picked any wicket in the first three matches of the series. He was rested in the fourth one to accommodate Shardul Thakur in the team.

In a bid to avoid a whitewash, Sri Lankan captain, Upul Tharanga, won the toss and chose to bat. Sri Lanka’s innings somewhat travelled the same road which it has been travelling in this series. An early wicket followed by wickets at regular intervals, a half-century by one or two individuals, batsmen wasting starts and the team scoring way below par.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s bowling figures of 9.4-0-42-5 didn’t allow Sri Lanka to showcase a special climax. The home team couldn’t even bat for their allotted quota of 50 overs as they were dismissed on 239-4 in 49.4 overs. Lahiru Thirimanne and Angelo Mathews scored half-centuries each, but, both of them were slow in pace and failed to convert it into a big one.

Bhuvneshwar, who was included in the playing eleven today in place of Hardik Pandya, made his ODI debut against Pakistan at Chennai in 2012. He had picked two four-wicket hauls in ODI cricket, but, he will always cherish this spell throughout his career. In 70 matches (excluding this one), Bhuvneshwar has picked 70 wickets at an average of 39.55, an economy rate of 4.89 and a strike rate of 48.4.