MS Dhoni always tries to be ahead of the game, says Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is coming out of a brilliant campaign in the tenth edition of Indian Premier League. He won the Purple Cap for the second time in a row. With this, he became the 2nd bowler in the history of IPL to win two Purple Caps, first being the Caribbean superstar Dwayne Bravo. He is considered as the death-over specialist for India, if not the best death-over bowler. In 14 matches, he picked up 26 wickets.

Not only that, but his economy rates also speaks volume about the brilliance of the pacer. He has conceded runs at an economy rate of just around 7 runs per over. He won the duel with every other batsman at the death overs, except Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The former Indian captain is the only player to have got the upper-hand against the lethal death-over bowler.

Kumar seemed to have lost the plot as Dhoni was wreaking havoc for Pune at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Considering that Dhoni handles the yorker well, Kumar went with the length deliveries. But it was of no use as the experienced batsman had already anticipated it. Kumar was forced to go back to wide yorkers.

MS Dhoni is ahead of the game

Kumar admitted that MS Dhoni is not a batsman that a bowler would ideally like to bowl to. The reason behind this being the former Indian skipper’s prowess at reading the situation of the game. “The plan was to bowl length to him because he scores well off yorkers. But when I bowled length, I knew he was expecting it, and Dhoni is one such batsman who always tries to be ahead of the game.” Bhuvaneshwar was quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

He further added, “I tried to mix up yorkers and length balls, because he’s the kind of batsman that if you miss the yorkers even by a little bit, he is very good at hitting them for boundaries.” Kumar and Dhoni will now don the same colours as both are part of the Indian team. India will start their Champions Trophy campaign against Pakistan on 4th June at Edgbaston, Birmingham.