South Africa head coach Mark Boucher heaped praise on Bhuvneshwar Kumar, saying the senior India pacer proved to be a threat to the visiting team in the recently concluded 5-match T20I series. Boucher said it was Bhuvneshwar who put the brakes on the scoring rate throughout the series after the off-day in New Delhi where South Africa chased down a chase of 211.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar won the Player of the Series award for his 6-wicket hauls in 4 matches. The senior pacer took 6 wickets and was fatal in the powerplay, taking the ball to both sides. Bhuvneshwar conceded only 6.07 runs per over, which is the best economy rate for India in a 5-match series.
Bhuvneshwar became the first Indian fast bowler to win more than one Player of the Series award in T20I cricket and surpassed Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma’s number of Player of the Series awards in international cricket.
“Bhuvi was special throughout this series as we came up against some quality bowling. He put us under pressure in the powerplays and, except in one match (Delhi), where we started well, he took on us with both the ball and the bat. Dominated. In the powerplay,” Boucher said after the series ended in a 2-2 draw.
South Africa took a 2–0 lead in the 5-match series after victories in New Delhi and Cuttack, but returned to the series with comprehensive victories in Visakhapatnam and Rajkot.
India had the momentum as they headed towards the conclusion of the series in Bengaluru but rain spoiled it as only 3.3 overs were bowled.
Boucher Louds India Depth
Boucher lauded India’s bench strength, saying despite resting key players including Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah for the 5-match series, it is not easy for any touring team to beat the Asian giants at home.
“I know there weren’t a lot of top (India) players here, but the depth that Indian cricket has at the moment is largely due to the IPL, they can take a lot of confidence too.”
“You can’t walk into India and expect to win a series as well. So, we played some good games and two bad games and there are reasons for that, but you can’t get too much into it,” he added.
Boucher said the long IPL season had an impact on the South African players but added that the Proteas have learned a lot from the series in India.
“We didn’t play our best cricket and it was very difficult for our IPL players to last the entire IPL and then come back-to-back to India,” Boucher said.
“Friends are a little tired too. So they will all enjoy the break in the World Cup year and learn a lot (after learning). And see if we can fill in some of the gaps going to Australia in different circumstances. “