Bhuvneshwar Kumar enjoyed the moment in limelight on Thursday (May 2) as he kept his cool in the last over to help Sunrisers Hyderabad win the thriller against Rajasthan Royals. With two runs needed off the final ball and Rovman Powell on strike, the Royals were indeed the favourites to get two points or even tie the game but certainly, an SRH win was out of the question. But Bhuvneshwar, arugably enjoying his best day in IPL 2024, delivered a brilliant delivery to trap Powell in front of the stumps.
The well-directed full toss missed Powell's bat only for the ball to hit the back pad and the umpire obliged to the appeal raising his finger. Bhuvi ended the match with the figures of 3/41 and also won the player of the match award for his excellent spell picking key wickets upfront. After the match, the pacer opened up about his thinking in the last over revealing that he never thought about the result.
"I told everyone process is a very important thing. I was virtually thoughtless; I was not thinking about the result. I was just trying to do what I can do," he said after the game. "I knew if I could bowl just two good balls, and if it went to the last ball, I knew anything could happen. It was a full toss, I know, and he missed it," Bhuvneshwar said.
He is not enjoying the best of seasons with the ball having gone wicketless in five out of 10 matches. But as soon as the ball swung, Bhuvi was back at his best against the Royals. He nipped out Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson in the very first over. The ball castling the latter was a beauty and the Royals' chase was derailed early. "It was the first match the ball swung so much. I can't really pinpoint where the ball swung last, but the way it swing I really enjoyed it. When it swings, you are always on top of the game, you try to take wickets and luckily, I got wickets," SRH's opening bowler added.