Bhuvneshwar Kumar produced a splendid bowling performance to give Uttar Pradesh a 10-run win over Jharkhand in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT). What makes this effort even special is that Bhuvneshwar, en route to recording the hat-trick, bowled a triple wicket-maiden over.
Uttar Pradesh needed to beat Jharkhand at the Wankhede Stadium to stay in the race for the knockout stage and it was their skipper who put his hand up and delivered with the ball.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar's magical spell
With Jharkhand needed 45 in 24 balls with five wickets in hand. He had Robin Minz (11 in 11 balls) and Krishna caught off the first two balls of the 17th over, and bowled Vivekanand Tiwari with the third. Still not done, he followed this with three dot balls against Vikash Singh to complete a maiden over.
Not only did Uttar Pradesh win the match by 10 runs but also drew level with Jharkhand on 20 points, and overtook them on net run rate (+1.942 to +1.893) to make it to the knockouts.
It was a brilliant SMAT season for Bhuvneshwar as well. Last month, in Uttar Pradesh's opening match against Delhi, he became the first Indian pacer to reach 300 T20 wickets, surpassing Jasprit Bumrah. The only spinners who are ahead of him among all Indian bowlers are Yuzvendra Chahal (364), Piyush Chawla (319), and Ravichandran Ashwin (310).
Bhuvneshwar Kumar returns to RCB
Bhuvneshwar's T20 journey began in 2009 with Royal Challengers Bengaluru during the Champions League T20, where he went wicketless. Now, 15 years later, he returns to RCB as one of the most successful seamers in T20 cricket.
