'He put us under pressure in Powerplays' - Mark Boucher hails 'special' Bhuvneshwar Kumar

India and South Africa had to settle for a 2-2 scoreline with the fifth and last T20I match getting washed out due to heavy rain in Bengaluru. The Indian side made a great comeback after losing the first two matches which will boost their morale for the upcoming Ireland series. Team India certainly have some gaps to fill before the upcoming 2022 World Cup but there were some standout performances, including Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s economical spell throughout the series. The Indian seamer took six wickets in four innings and was named the Player of the Series for his heroics in the powerplay overs. South African head coach Mark Boucher has praised Bhuvneshwar and admitted that the pacer put his team under pressure in powerplays.

The 32-year-old seamer struggled with the form and recurring foot injuries in the last two years but is now looking sharp and back to his best with consistently good performances. He took 12 wickets in the Indian Premier League 2022 at an impressive economy rate of 7.34 and continued that momentum in the South Africa series as well. He took four wickets while conceding just 13 runs in the second match.

Bhuvneshwar stuck to the basics and bowled good-length deliveries to restrict opponents from playing big shots in powerplay overs. South Africa failed to maintain a healthy scoring rate in the powerplay overs in the last three matches and credit goes to Bhuvneshwar. Boucher has termed Bhuvneshwar’s performance as special and credited him for his powerplay displays.

“Bhuvi was special in this whole series as we came up against some quality bowling. He put us under pressure in Powerplays and barring one game (Delhi), where we got off to a good start, they have dominated us with both ball and bat in Powerplays,” Boucher said after the series.

They can take a lot of confidence as well: Mark Boucher on India depth

Notably, India rested their key players Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, and Jasprit Bumrah for the South Africa series due to the long IPL 2022 season. KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav were also ruled out of the entire series with injuries which made the traveling side favorite for the series win. But the Indian side managed to draw this series with impressive performances, and Boucher hailed the Indian team’s depth.

“I know there weren’t a lot of top (India) players over here but the depth that Indian cricket has at the moment largely due to the IPL, they can take a lot of confidence as well. You just can’t walk up in India and expect to win a series as well. So, we played a couple of good games and two bad games and there are a couple of reasons for that, but you can’t get too much into it,” Boucher added.