Just like Virat Kohli, Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar also stormed back to form with a five-wicket haul vs Afghanistan in Team India’s last encounter in Asia Cup 2022 in Dubai on Thursday (September 8). Bhuvneshwar finished with the figures of 5 for 4 from 4 overs that also included one maiden. Bhuvneshwar struggled throughout this Asia Cup but came back to form in style with this five-for vs the Afghans. He also became India’s most successful bowler in T20Is, going past his teammate Yuzvendra Chahal. Bhuvi had 79 wickets in T20Is at the start of the match.
A stunning five-wicket haul for Bhuvneshwar Kumar _#INDvAFG | #AsiaCup2022 | Scorecard: https://t.co/z8iw8dn85Q pic.twitter.com/JUwtuQriMg
— ICC (@ICC) September 8, 2022
Chahal was dropped from the playing XI for Afghanistan clash while Bhuvneshwar was retained. Bhuvi’s five-wicket haul has now taken him to 84 wickets, one more than Chahal. Bhuvi has done this in 77 matches while Chahal has 83 wickets in 66 games. Next is Jasprit Bumrah with 69 wickets in 60 games. On fourth is R Ashwin with 66 wickets from 56 matches and on fifth is Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya with 54 wikets in 70 matches.
Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is the leading wicket-taker in T20Is with 122 wickets.
Bhuvneshwar also surpassed pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah to register the highest number of wickets taken by an Indian in T20Is in a calendar year. He has taken 31 T20I wickets in 2022, surpassing Bumrah`s tally of 28 wickets in 2016. Sandeep Lamichhane of Nepal holds the record for picking the most number of T20I wickets in a calendar year. He has taken 38 wickets in 18 matches this year.
Coming to the match, India beat Afghanistan by 101 runs to finish their Asia Cup 2022 campaign on a bright note. India won’t be able to retain the Asia Cup trophy but there have been some tough learning and huge positives. One of them is Virat Kohli’s form. The star India batter struck two fifties before he smashed the maiden T20I ton.