IPL Special: The first Indian pacer to claim 150 IPL wickets
Veteran pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar on April 17 (Sunday) became the first Indian fast bowler to scalp 150 wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history. The pacer achieved this feat against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in a group stage match at Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai.
To note, West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo (174), and veteran Sri Lanka pacer Lasith Malinga (170) are the only two pacers before Kumar to bag 150 wickets in the toughest franchise-based cricket league. Among spinners, Amit Mishra (166), Piyush Chawla (157), Yuzvendra Chahal (151), and Harbhajan Singh (150) are the other three Indian bowlers to reach the landmark.
Bhuvneshwar has played 138 IPL matches so far
Talking about Bhuvneshwar’s numbers in the IPL, the right-arm pacer has played 138 matches in which he has scalped 150 wickets at an average of 25.16. The 32-year-old is very economical as well, bowling at an economy rate of 7.32. He has two four-wicket and one five-wicket hauls in the IPL. He has also scored 220 runs with the bat.
Talking about the match, the SRH skipper, after winning the toss, opted to have a field first. PBKS top order fell cheaply before English batter Liam Livingstone smashed another half-century in this season. He made 60 runs off just 33 balls with five fours and four maximums. Batter Shahrukh Khan also played an innings of 26 runs off 28 balls. For SRH, Bhuvneshwar scalped three wickets in his four-over spell. Express pacer Umran Malik was also impressive and took his career-best figures of 4/28 to go with his last over maiden.
Chasing just 152 runs for victory, skipper Williamson failed to get going as he got dismissed by pacer Kagiso Rabada. Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi scored 31 and 34 runs respectively before both fell prey to ace-spinner Rahul Chahar.
The finishing touches were given by Aiden Markram (41 runs) and wicketkeeper-batter Nicholas Pooran (35) as SRH won their fourth match on the trot. Apart from Chahar and Rabada, none of the other PBKS bowlers managed to take a wicket. Meanwhile, Punjab have now lost three in their first six matches.
