Heavy rain in Bengaluru forced the cancellation of the fifth and final Twenty20 International match, which resulted in the score between India and South Africa being tied at 2-2. After losing the first two matches, the Indian team staged an impressive comeback, which would be beneficial for their morale going into the forthcoming series against Ireland. There were several notable performances, like Bhuvneshwar Kumar‘s economical streak throughout the series, but Team India has some holes to rectify before the forthcoming World Cup in 2022.
Because of his outstanding performance during the powerplay overs, the Indian seamer was awarded the title of Player of the Series. He grabbed six wickets across all four innings. Mark Boucher, the head coach of the South African cricket team, has heaped praise on Bhuvneshwar while also acknowledging that the bowler placed his side under strain during powerplays.
In the previous two years, the seamer, who is 32 years old, had trouble maintaining his form and suffered from reoccurring foot ailments. However, he is now looking sharp and is getting back to his best with consistently solid performances. In the Indian Premier League 2022, he finished with 12 wickets at an outstanding economy rate of 7.34, and he carried that momentum into the series against South Africa as well. In the second encounter, he was successful in taking four wickets while only allowing 13 runs.
What did Mark Boucher say about Bhuvneshwar Kumar?
In the powerplay overs, Bhuvneshwar prevented his opponents from hitting huge strokes by sticking to the fundamentals and bowling accurate deliveries of a decent length. Bhuvneshwar deserves credit for South Africa’s inability to keep up a strong scoring rate during the powerplay overs in any of the three most recent matchups. The effort that Bhuvneshwar turned in was deemed exceptional by Boucher, who also praised him for his powerplay performances.
“Bhuvi was exceptional for the whole of this series. We faced some high-calibre bowling. He put us under pressure in Powerplays and, except in one game (Delhi), where we got off to a fantastic start, they have overpowered us with both ball and bat in Powerplays,” Boucher said.
