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SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is a bonafide legend of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and has often lightened up the cash-rich tournament with his superlative bowling performances.
The Meerut-born speedster has now scripted history in the IPL, having become the first bowler to deliver 1,400 dot balls in the elite T20 competition.
SRH's official Twitter handle tweeted Bhuvi's stunning stat on Thursday, hailing the fast bowler for stifling batters of opposition teams with the help of his picture-perfect yorkers and unreadable slower deliveries and knuckle balls.
Silencing batsmen and run-rates since 2014. 🤫🔥@BhuviOfficial | #OrangeArmy #ReadyToRise #TATAIPL pic.twitter.com/nZIeLLaoQo
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) May 19, 2022
A natural swing bowler of the cricket call, Bhuvneshwar Kumar's strength lies in his uncanny pace as the ball comes much quicker onto the bat of the batsman than it looks.
Besides he's known for invariably producing an immaculate line and length, which becomes quite problematic for rival teams as it is extremely tough to hit him for boundaries.
At times, even rotating the strike against Bhuvi is a task in itself as he hardly gives anything away with his action.
Moreover, by making subtle changes in his deliveries, Bhuvneshwar has been able to bamboozle batters as they tend to fall for his deception.
His knuckle ball is regarded as among the best deliveries not just in the IPL but in the world as it has a mystery element to it and batsmen haven't succeeded in reading it despite being part of the Indian bowler's arsenal for several years now.
Over the years, Bhuvi has been a vital cog in the SRH line-up and has delivered for the side more often than not.
The reason why the 32-year-old cricketer's achievement is remarkable is that dot balls are extremely rare in T20 cricket and if someone has bowled as many as 1,400 balls without giving a run, it speaks volumes about the calibre of the player concerned.
If this simple fact about IPL wasn't enough to highlight Bhuvneshwar's achievement, one must not forget that he's someone who opens the bowling for SRH.
Despite bowling in powerplay overs when the field is up, Bhuvi has managed to keep the opposition batters in check and that's the prime reason behind him being one of the most economical bowlers in the high-profile tourney.
His execution in the death overs has been exemplary too as he has often succeeded in preventing batsmen from scoring big runs during the concluding stages of an innings or a match.
The Uttar Pradesh speedster is yet again having a stellar season with the ball in the IPL.
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On Tuesday, he kept his team in contention for the playoffs after bowling a wicket maiden against the Mumbai Indians after his SRH colleague T Natarajan went for plenty in the previous over.
Bhuvi continues to be the leader of the pack at SRH.
He has repaid the faith that SRH showed in his abilities after he was purchased by the franchise for $542,000 (INR 4.2 crore) at the IPL mega auction in February.
In the 2022 edition of the IPL, Bhuvneshwar has taken 12 wickets in 13 games but it is his economy that has impressed almost everyone.
In a tournament, where maintaining an economy of even 8 is considered good, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been simply outstanding in this department. He currently has an economy rate of 7.20 in IPL 2022.
What's more praiseworthy here is that he has bowled most of these overs in the final stages of games, but still managed to achieve such numbers.
Bhuvneshwar, meanwhile, has himself let the secret out of his success in T20 cricket. According to him, rather than the execution of his plans, it has been his calm demeanor during critical stages of matches that has helped him the most.
On the other hand, SRH's hopes of advancing through to the knockout stages of this year's IPL hinge on their performance in the last match. But that alone won't be enough to see them through.
The only way SRH could progress through to the playoffs would be to win their final game with a huge margin while both Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Delhi Capitals (DC) lose their respective matches.
The fans may or may not see SRH in the last week of the IPL, but one thing is certain the magic of Bhuvneshwar Kumar would continue to mesmerise them for many more years and days to come.
The pacer is almost certain to get a place in the national men's team for next month's T20Is against South Africa where he will look to help the Men-in-Blue to win the series at home. After that, he would head to the United Kingdom where the Indians are slated to play five games – two against Ireland and three against England.
