The Royal Challengers Bengaluru pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was on top of his game against the Mumbai Indians as they won a nail-biting last ball thriller. The veteran stated in the post-match interview that
discipline is what keeps him going and that motivation is overrated. Despite being dropped from the national side, he has remained disciplined to keep his bowling form right on track for RCB. The veteran has proved time after time that he is one of India’s best bowlers in white-ball cricket and he is aging like fine wine. His performance came at a very important time for RCB as they lost 2 games on the trot prior to the game and this match was crucial.
“Motivation is a very overrated word for me. You read some quote, you see some video and you get motivated for a few minutes and that fades away very quickly. But the thing which keeps me going is the discipline,” said Bhuvneshwar Kumar after his match-winning performance against the Mumbai Indians. The RCB pacer has often flown under the radar not because people fail to appreciate his quality but because of his consistency in the format. Despite being dropped from the Indian side, he has made sure that he performs at his best in the domestic level and his fitness is right up there amongst the best.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s sensational spell and clutch six powered RCB to a dramatic victory
Against the Mumbai Indians, Bhuvneshwar Kumar analysed the pitch earlier on and with the first ball he bowled against Ryan Rickelton, he was convinced that there is something odd in the pitch. Rickelton mistimed the shot and it went straight to the safe hands of the RCB skipper, Rajat Patidar. He made the best of the spongy bounce on the surface and he hit the deck to get rid of the South African.
Later on, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was up against Rohit Sharma, who was charging against Josh Hazelwood with a string of boundaries. The veteran felt like Rohit was going to take him on and he bowled the knuckle ball to tempt him to drive the ball and it worked well as the batter edged it straight to Jitesh Sharma. In the very next ball, he bowled another fine delivery and Suryakumar Yadav poked the ball straight to Virat Kohli at first slip. The wicket of Tilak Varma came at an important stage as he bowled a full delivery at which Tilak Varma played it on to the stumps.
However, the most important part of his game came in the 4th ball of the last over when RCB needed 9 to win off 3 balls. With the wicket of Romario Shepherd, the RCB fans were hopeless and they were silenced. Raj Bawa stuck to his plan and bowled it wide outside off stump and Bhuvneshwar Kumar slashed hard at it, to take the ball just over the fielder at the fence. He then took a sensible single in the next ball and turned down the call for a double from Rasikh Salam.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar is seldom known for his contribution with the bat as this was his first 6 in the IPL since 2016. Virat Kohli jokingly addressed Bhuvneshwar Kumar as ‘Tim David’ for his match-determining six. With the kind of consistency Bhuvneshwar has in his game, RCB have an irreplaceable gem in their side and the form of this man would be detrimental to their success in this season.
