Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is always a tricky customer during the death overs. The speedster himself admitted that his time at Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League helped him gain significant experience in bowling during the ending overs of the match. He boasts of different variations in his armour, which makes it difficult for the batsmen to hit him during the final overs.
However, Bhuvneshwar has now named one player who has always been difficult to bowl to. The Indian pacer said that one has to depend on luck while bowling to the Windies batsman.
“One thing which matters a lot is the ground you’re playing on. Dimensions of the ground, boundary and all matters a lot. You’re generally aware of the dimensions of the ground before the match, and you have a plan on where to bowl. But Russell is a powerful batsman, even his mishits go for a six, as we saw in the last IPL season. Luck matters a lot when you are up against him,” said Bhuvneshwar during an interaction with Deep Das Gupta on ESPNCricinfo.
“So somewhere down the line, you hope that he misses one ball. Or that his mistimed shots don’t go over the boundary. These things matter a lot. A lot of bowlers in the last IPL, including me, bowled yorkers on his legs and then one wide outside off to bluff him but he used to hit those balls for a six even while losing balance."
Talking about the strength of Russell, Bhuvneshwar recalled Sunrisers' first match of the previous edition of the IPL against Kolkata Knight Riders.
“I remember the first match of the last IPL, where I was the captain and he scored 52-odd runs in the final three overs. I still remember two-three of his sixes were so long that normal batsmen wouldn’t have managed even after middling the ball,” said Bhuvneshwar.
