Bhuvneshwar Kumar breaks Zaheer Khan’s record, becomes first Indian fast bowler
Veteran India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was adjudged the man of the series for the recently concluded five-match T20I series against South Africa. This was Kumar’s fourth Player of the Series award in his 10-year long career as an India cricketer. With this, he became the first Indian fast bowler to win four MOS awards, surpassing Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, both of whom have won thrice.
For his impressive bowling performance against South Africa, @BhuviOfficial received the Pair of the Series award. #TeamIndia | #INDvSA | @Paytm pic.twitter.com/gcIuFS4J9y – BCCI (@BCCI) June 19, 2022
Kumar took six wickets in four matches. The fifth match of the series was washed out. The right-arm pacer took four wickets in the second game of the series in Cuttack. Interestingly, Kumar started his international career with a clean bowling bowling from Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez, taking three wickets by splitting wood in the Cuttack game.
Harshal Patel was the leading wicket-taker in the series, but Kumar was the most influential fast bowler as he took crucial wickets in four matches. Kumar was not only one of the wickets but was also economical. He conceded just 85 runs in 14 overs in the series.
In a post-match conversation, South Africa’s head coach Mark Boucher praised the veteran India pacer, “We came up against some quality bowling. Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) was exceptional throughout this series. He got us in the powerplays.” Putting under pressure. Barring one game, this is one area in which India have dominated our players with both bat and ball and that is something we will definitely look into and try and improve. “