JOIN USBhuvneshwar is the best bowler in IPL: Murali
With a calm head and a smart cricketing brain, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been one of the key figures behind Sunrisers Hyderabad’s good run so far in this season.
The defending champions are placed third with eight points from seven games and the right-arm medium pacer has been their main strike bowler. Bhuvneshwar, the Purple cap winner last season, is also the leading wicket-taker of this edition with 16 scalps.
Be it his miserly economy rate or his clever variations, especially in the death overs, Bhuvneshwar has been skipper David Warner’s go-to man.
Impressed with his consistent performances, legendary cricketer Muttiah Muralitharn, who is also Sunrisers’ bowling coach, called him the best bowler in the history of IPL.“I think he is the best. I am not saying this because he is from Sunrisers. I have observed him over the last four-five years and I can easily say he is the best IPL bowler. He bowls two overs in the powerplay and two at the death and his economy rate is so low. He has been successful not just this year, but even in the previous editions,” said Muralitharan during a media interaction on Monday.
Head coach Tom Moody backed Muralitharn’s opinion. “Murali has seen a lot of cricket and he is a good judge. Bhuvi has been outstanding over a long period of time. Bowlers with his kind of skills are few and far,” Moody said.
Bhuvneshwar’s 5/19, that helped the Sunrisers produce a nervy five-run win over Kings XI Punjab, showed the 27-year-old’s ability to step up under crisis. Muralitharan called Bhuvneshwar a team man and felt he is a good T20 prospect for India.
“He has always done whatever the team has asked. Unfortunately he hasn’t played much T20 cricket for India. He is a very big prospect for India,” Muralitharan said.
The Sunrisers are coming into the tie against the Royal Challengers Bangalore following a six-wicket defeat to Rising Pune Supergiant. It was veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s special knock that sealed the game in Pune’s favour and the former Sri Lankan off-spinner was all praise for the wicketkeeper-batsman.
“Everyone knows Dhoni is the finest finisher in the world. Sometimes it becomes hard to bowl yorkers to him because he has a different way of playing them. Even the yorkers go for straight sixes. Players as talented as Dhoni will always perform and you can’t keep them out of action for long,” Muralitharan offered.
Muralitharan, who played under Dhoni’s leadership for Chennai Super Kings, asserted that the Jharkhand player is a world skipper but said the owners of the franchises have the right to take the final call of appointing the captains.
“It’s not for me to judge why Dhoni was removed as the Pune captain. He will be remembered as one of the best captains to have ever played the game. The franchise thought it other way and we can’t comment on that,” he said.
DH News Service