Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been the most valuable fast bowler for Sunrisers Hyderabad for over a decade now. The right-arm paceman is known for his potential to contain the runs by keeping the opposition in check, courtesy of his subtle bowling variations of tight line and length. Moreover, he is an unpredictable bowler where he bowls knuckle balls, pin-point yorkers and sometimes, he takes the pace off his deliveries to deceive the batters.
As a bowler, he has been statistically and economically exceptional. During the recently-concluded game between Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad, Bhuvneshwar Kumar etched his name into the record books after creating a rare record in IPL. Usually, spinners take wickets by stumping and they do it by deceiving the batters by tempting them to play the shot upon stepping down the track.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar becomes the first fast bowler to achieve a rare record in IPL
Sometimes, even calculative risks taken by batters might put them on the back foot if they fail to get connection off their willow. On the other hand, pacers taking wickets by stumping is indeed a rare scenario in the history of the game. Notably, Bhuvneshwar Kumar got rid of Shikhar Dhawan in the form of a stumping. Dhawan’s stumping dismissal was the first instance in eight years and the ninth time in the history of the cash-rich Indian Premier League.
It is also worth mentioning here that Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the first pacer to take two wickets via stumpings in the history of the IPL. Eleven years before, that is during the IPL 2013 edition, when the paceman was playing for Pune Warriors India, he got rid of Manvinder Bisla via stumping. Talking about the game, Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets to his name and gave away 32 runs in four overs and also bowled a maiden over.
Batting first, Sunrisers posted 182/9 in their quota of 20 overs with the help of Nitish Reddy’s 64 off 37 (4 fours and 5 sixes). Arshdeep Singh was the pick of the bowlers for PBKS as he registered 4/29 in four overs. In reply, the Mohali-based franchise gave absolutely everything in the run-chase before they fell short of the target by a whisker. SRH won the game by 2 runs in Chandigarh.