Bhuvneshwar Kumar joins SRH squad ahead of IPL 2021
Sunrisers Hyderabad took to social media to welcome their bowling spearhead, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who joined the SRH squad earlier today for IPL 2021.
"Nothing much, just making your weekend a whole lot better. The swing king is here" wrote the Hyderabad-based franchise on Twitter
After being ruled out of the IPL in 2020 with an injury he picked up during a league-stage game in the UAE, Bhuvneshwar made a return in the recently concluded T20I series against England where he displayed a prolific bowling performance. Bhuvi was economical and picked up wickets for his team under pressure throughout the course of the series.
His bowling was lauded by pundits and fans as the series was predominantly in favor of the batsmen with over 1500 runs being scored in 3 matches.
All three matches were nothing short of a batting paradise for the batsmen and bowlers had to toil hard to not get knocked all over the park.
In such circumstances, Kumar's economic spells handed the momentum to India on multiple occasions.
Most Indian and England players opted for a bubble-to-bubble transfer after the recently-concluded ODI series between the two cricket heavyweights. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, however, chose to take a short break before he arrived in Chennai to join the rest of the squad.
Since he exited the bio-bubble, Bhuvi will have to undergo a week-long quarantine period before he is allowed to join his SRH teammates.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar moves up in ICC ODI rankings for Bowlers
After a phenomenal exhibition of swing bowling in the ODI series against England, Bhuvneshwar Kumar jumped 9-spots to become the 11th ranked ODI bowler in the world. Playing his first ODI series since August 2019, Bhuvi picked up 6 wickets in 3 games against England in Pune to help India win the ODI series.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead the SRH pace attack in IPL 2021, and would be an extremely valuable asset to the team. With the ability to swing the ball and be economical, Bhuvi would certainly be a dangerous bowler going into the IPL.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will be seen in action on April 11 when they face-off against the Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai. With Mitchell Marsh opting out of the tournament and Jason Roy replacing him - it will be interesting to see what combination of overseas players the Hyderabad-based franchise fields in its starting XI.