Sunrisers bowling coach Muttiah Muralitharan has heaped lavish praise on his team’s pace spearhead, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
After bagging the purple cap in the previous edition and playing an integral part in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s march to their maiden title, the India pacer has started the ongoing season in the same fashion. He has already taken 16 wickets in only 7 matches, just 7 wickets short of his tally in the last edition and is looking set to better his previous effort.
Overall, he has taken 101 wickets in 83 matches so far and his exploits are enough for Muttiah Muralitharan to call him the greatest bowler in the history of the Indian Premier League. That the spin legend even ignored his compatriot Lasith Malinga, who is considered by many as arguably the best bowler to grace the league, is a proof of Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s meteoric rise as one of the finest bowlers in T20 cricket.
“Over the last four, five years that I have been seeing him, he is the best bowler in IPL history. He bowls two overs in the Power Play and two at the death and his economy rate is so low,” Muralitharan said.
“Unfortunately, he has not played much T20 cricket for India. He will be a very big prospect for India as well, in these conditions or in any conditions. Hopefully, people will realise that. He is one of the most successful bowlers in IPL history as a fast bowler.”
The spin wizard also defended the bowler for a rare failure against Rising Pune Supergiant on last Sunday (April 23). With the Supergiant needing 30 runs from the final 2 overs, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was hit for a couple of fours and a six by MS Dhoni and conceded 19 runs in that over. The defending champions eventually lost the match as Dhoni scored 61 off 34 balls to take his team home.
That was Dhoni’s day, it happens. Every bowler cannot go quiet every time. Dhoni is such a class player … Ten runs went off Bhuvneshwar of very good yorkers. It happens in cricket,” Muralitharan said.
When asked whether he was surprised by Dhoni’s removal as Pune captain, Muralitharan, who played under Dhoni’s captaincy in Chennai Super Kings, said:
“It is not for me to judge that but he is a world-class captain. We cannot comment. It is all about the decision the owners take. I don’t know what the story is.”