India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar completed his return from an injury lay-off with a three-wicket haul against South Africa ‘A’ team on Wednesday.

The 28-year-old has had to undergo a lengthy spell on the sidelines after aggravating a lower-back injury during the third ODI between England and India in July.

In his first competitive match since the injury, the pacer shone in a 124-run win for India A over their South African counterparts in the third-place play-off match of the quadrangular series in Alur.

Bhuvneshwar bowled nine overs on his return and picked up 3-33 with the help of one maiden.

Batting first, India A put up 275-7 on the board in their 50 overs with skipper Shreyas Iyer top-scoring with 67.

In reply, the South Africans were bundled out for just 151 with Deepak Chahar and Mayank Markande picking up two wickets apiece.

That Bhuvneshwar was able to bowl nine overs on his competitive return bodes well for the Indian team management who could be tempted to call up the pacer for the fifth and final Test against England which gets underway on September 7.

Following his injury in the ODI series, Bhuvneshwar was ruled out of the first three Tests though the team management had kept the door open for his return in the final two matches.

The seamer had returned to India to continue his injury rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. However, his progress was not enough to warrant a selection in the squad for the final two Tests which saw young Prithvi Shaw and Hanuma Vihari being handed their maiden India call-ups.