Tag: Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Left-arm Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir on Thursday, broke India’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s all-time record of bowling the most maiden by a pacer in T20s.

The left-arm pacer, representing Antigua and Barbuda Falcons in the ongoing Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2024, achieved the feat in his side’s Thursday fixture against Barbados Royals.

Bowling the first over as the Falcons set to defend 177, Mohammad Amir outclassed hard-hitting batter Rakheem Cornwall with his exceptional skills and did not allow the batter to score a single run off his over.

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Cornwall only managed to steal a leg-bye off Amir’s last delivery.

The maiden pushed Mohammad Amir’s tally in the format to 25, leaving behind all top pacers in the world, including India’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar (24) and Jasprit Bumrah (22), compatriots Wahab Riaz (21) and Mohammad Irfan (20) and New Zealand’s Trent Boult (17).

In the overall list, Amir is ranked third, only behind Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan (26) and West Indies’ Sunil Narine (30).

Most maidens in career in T20s

Sunil Narine: 30
Shakib Al Hasan: 26
Mohammad Amir: 25
Bhuvneshwar Kumar: 24
Jasprit Bumrah: 21
Samuel Badree: 21
Wahab Riaz: 21
Mohammad Irfan: 20

Earlier this year, Pakistan’s ace pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi broke Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s long-standing record of most first-over wickets in T20s.

Afridi achieved the milestone in the first T20I of the five-match series between Pakistan and New Zealand when he cleaned up Tim Robinson with a perfectly crafted in-swinger.

The dismissal pushed Afridi’s tally of first-over wickets to 47, now 49, leaving behind the top bowlers in the world. He is now closely followed by India’s Kumar and England’s David Willey, 46 each and compatriot Mohammad Amir, who has 40 wickets.

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NEW DELHI: Improving India’s bowling remains the team’s focus ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup next month, skipper Rohit Sharma has said, adding that he backs seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar to come out of a recent slump.

India went past Aaron Finch’s Australia by six wickets to clinch the three-match T20 series 2-1, and now host South Africa for a white-ball series starting Wednesday.

The team’s batsmen, including Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav, have been in good form and shared a 104-run partnership to secure victory on Sunday, but the final-overs bowling has been a cause of worry.

Kumar, once a champion of choking runs in the final overs of a T20 match, has been expensive lately. He leaked 21 runs in the 18th over in the series-decider, with Tim David hitting him for two sixes and a four.

“We know that he has had more good days than the bad days in the last so many years,” Rohit said of the veteran fast bowler in a post-match press conference.

“Yes, of late it has not been the kind of performance that he wants but that can happen to any of the bowlers. You can see the opposition as well, it’s not easy to bowl in the death.”

The 32-year-old Kumar, who remains a key member of the team’s plans for T20’s showpiece event in Australia, had just two wickets from two matches and an expensive economy rate of 13.00.

Rohit said the team will devise a better strategy in the three T20 internationals against the Proteas to help Kumar return to his miserly ways in the final overs.

“We’ve been working on some execution plans and hopefully we can give him more options to bowl in the death and he’ll be as good as he was before. And he is not short on confidence,” said the Indian captain.

“We want him to come back as quickly as possible because he has bowled those difficult overs in the past. As a team we believe in his ability. Time for us to show that faith in him and keep backing his skill set.”

Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and fellow quick Harshal Patel returned to the team from injuries and Rohit said he expected the bowling unit to hit form with more game time.

“Bowling is something that we have a lot more focus on than the batting at the moment,” said Rohit.

“Those three (Bumrah, Harshal and Axar Patel) who haven’t played much cricket in the past are playing now, so you got to give some time to them and get them back (in rhythm) as quickly as possible,” said Rohit.

“It’s just about getting their confidence and with the kind of individuals they are, I don’t think it will be too long.”

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NEW DELHI: India have announced a 17-member squad with all-rounder Hardik Pandya to lead the side for the first time as the Men in Blue are scheduled to tour Ireland for the T20I series later this month.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has put faith in young players for the upcoming task against Ireland as Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and Rohit Sharma have not been included in the squad.

Pandya, who steered Gujrat Titans to the IPL title this year with his captaincy, has been set to captain the Indian side for the two-match T20I series against Ireland with fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar named as vice-captain.

Meanwhile, right-handed batter Rahul Tripathi, became the new entrant in the Indian squad, following his phenomenal run in the IPL this season.

Squad: Hardik Pandya (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.

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