Bhuvneshwar Kumar has claimed 12 wickets from 10 matches in IPL 2025
Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s ace fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar hailed the complementary skillsets of all the bowlers in the team as he felt the collective efforts put in by every player has put them in a strong position for playoffs qualification in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
RCB were earlier plagued by the home ground curse as they lost three games in a row at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. All those wins came while bowling second which isn’t a favourable situation for any team. However, they managed to snap the losing streak with a stunning 11-run victory against Rajasthan Royals.
In that match, Bhuvneshwar’s 18th over was carted for 22 runs, but Josh Hazlewood claimed two wickets and gave away just one run in the 19th over, while Yash Dayal gave away just five runs off his last over to win the match.
Against bitter-rivals Chennai Super Kings, RCB completed a double for the first time ever after Dayal once again defended 15 runs off the final over and won the match by two runs.
Speaking to RCB’s YouTube channel, Bhuvneshwar felt that death-bowling is instinctive in nature and needs anticipation of the batter’s next move.
“Death bowling is like an instinct. It depends on what is the situation of the match and what you are thinking as well. Sometimes there is a very normal situation going on, but you have an instinct that the batter is going to do something different. So that’s when we call it being proactive – to be a step ahead of the batter. There are times when it doesn’t work, but as long as you are proactive and you are getting the batter to do the things you want, you will be on top of the game,” the former SRH man said.
Bhuvneshwar had gone for big runs at times in the season, but he was in his element with his spell of 3-33 against Delhi Capitals. He got the three crucial wickets of KL Rahul, Tristan Stubbs and Abishek Porel, which laid the foundation for RCB’s eight-wicket win.
The Uttar Pradesh veteran praised his fellow pacer Josh Hazlewood and Yash Dayal along with the spinners in the team for stepping up at different points of the season.
“And if you look back in the season, there have been times that I have not done well, but they have backed me up, or if someone hasn’t had a good day, the rest of the bowlers have stepped up. So we are complementing each other and it is a great sign,” Bhuvneshwar said.
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Speaking about his early development as a swing bowler, the 35-year-old remembered how he could swing the ball before he understood its importance with the new ball.
“When I first started playing cricket, nobody taught me how to swing the ball. When I was too young, the coaches just asked me to keep bowling. Only after I understood what my skills were and that I could swing the ball, they asked me to bowl with the new ball,” Bhuvneshwar said.
RCB are currently second in the table after 11 matches with 16 points and will next face Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.
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