IPL: A look at Bhuvneshwar Kumar's performance against KKR
Indian fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar recently starred in the white-ball games against England. He finished the ODI series with second-most wickets (6), having record the best economy-rate (4.66). The pace spearhead eyes a similar performance as Sunrisers Hyderabad is set to lock horns with Kolkata Knight Riders in the third game of IPL 2021. Let us analyze Bhuvi's performance against KKR.
His record against KKR
Bhuvneshwar is the seventh-highest wicket-taker in the IPL. He has taken 136 wickets from 121 matches with a best match haul of 5/19. Against Kolkata Knight Riders, he has picked up 27 wickets with the best bowling performance of 3/19. Notably, Bhuvi owns most wickets against Kolkata-based franchise in the IPL history. He averages 21.37 with the ball against them.
Bhuvneshwar will be wary of Andre Russell
Bhuvneshwar has a decent record against the KKR batsmen in the IPL. He has dismissed top-order batsman Nitish Rana twice, having given away 29 runs off 21 balls. The SRH fast bowler has also uprooted opener Shubman Gill once in a space of 21 deliveries. However, Bhuvi will be tested by the dangerous Andre Russell, who has scored 35 runs (13) against him.
Bhuvi shines at the death
Over the years, Bhuvneshwar has emerged as one of the most proficient bowlers in the death overs. His ability to deliver immaculate yorkers in the final overs makes him a prized possession for SRH. As of now, he has snapped up 79 wickets at an average of 17.27 in the death overs (16-20). His economy-rate in this phase reads 8.52.
He also excels in the powerplay overs
Besides bowling well at the death, Bhuvi also excels in the powerplay. So far, he has picked up 48 wickets at an average of 28.44 in the first six overs. He has an impressive economy-rate of 5.7 in these overs.
Will Bhuvi trump KKR with his variations?
The upcoming game between SRH and KKR is scheduled to be played at the Chepauk Stadium. Although the wicket here is usually spin-friendly, the MI-RCB game showed that the seamers can also cash-in with their variations. As far as the variations are concerned, Bhuvneshwar has enough of them to outfox the opposition. It remains to be seen if he makes use of them tonight.
