Bhuvneshwar Kumar joined a select club of bowlers to take 50 or more powerplay wickets in the Indian T20 League on Monday, September 27 following the dismissal of Evin Lewis during the Hyderabad versus Rajasthan match at Dubai.
Bhuvneshwar, who pulled out of Indian T20 League 2020 early on due to a thigh injury, struggled for consistency in the 2021 edition.
However, his dismissal of West Indian opener Lewis brought will fill him with some confidence as he looks to have an impact for India at the T20 World Cup in October.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, playing in his 129th game in the Indian T20 League, now has 50 powerplay wickets in the tournament. The 31-year-old is the third bowler, after Zaheer Khan and Sandeep Sharma, to reach the milestone.
Who was the first bowler to take 50 powerplay wickets in the Indian T20 League?
Zaheer Khan, who represented three franchises in his decade-long Indian T20 League career was the first bowler to take 50 powerplay wickets in the competition.
The left-arm pacer registered 52 wickets in 99 innings, with a bowling average of 27.92 and an economy rate of 6.74. However, Zaheer’s record would soon be broken by Hyderabad’s Sandeep Sharma in the 2020 edition.
Who is the bowler with the most powerplay wickets in the Indian T20 League?
Referred to as the ‘King of Powerplays’, Sandeep Sharma leads the list of bowlers with most powerplay wickets in the Indian T20 League, with 53 scalps to his name.
The Punjab-born bowler became the second bowler to 50 powerplay wickets during Hyderabad’s game against Bangalore in Indian T20 League 2020 and went on to overtake Zaheer Khan after dismissing Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma in their game at Sharjah in the same edition.
Most powerplay wickets in the Indian T20 League
| Bowler | Innings | Wickets |
| Sandeep Sharma | 89 | 53 |
| Zaheer Khan | 99 | 52 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 129 | 50 |
| Umesh Yadav | 104 | 45 |
| Dhawal Kulkarni | 84 | 44 |
Featured photo: AFP / Sajjad Hussain
