New Delhi, May 13 (IANS) Former India bowling all-rounder Irfan Pathan has lauded veteran pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s “masterful control” of his wrist position and “repeatable action” for maintaining his technical standards over an Indian Premier League (IPL) career spanning 16 years. Bhuvneshwar has been a standout performer for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).

The swing king is currently leading the purple cap chart with 21 scalps in 11 games in the 2026 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“Bhuvneshwar has an amazing and highly repeatable action. He has had a 16-year-long IPL career and hasn’t changed his action one bit. When you have the same action for such a long period, you can hit the areas you want to target. At the same time, his wrist position and the way he manoeuvres it is masterful, with very little change in seam position, whether he is bowling the inswinger or moving it away, and all of it with so much control,” Pathan said on JioStar.

He produced a match-winning all-round display in Raipur, finishing with exceptional figures of 4-23 before later smashing a crucial six in the final over to help RCB complete a tense chase on the last ball.

“When a bowler is running in at a certain speed, you only get a fraction of a second to react, and he has the ability to land the ball exactly where he wants to with the right fields. That’s where experience comes into play,” he added.

Bhuvneshwar has taken 219 wickets in 201 IPL matches at an average of 26.17 and an economy rate of 7.67, including two five-wicket hauls and two four-wicket hauls, with his best bowling figures standing at 5/19. Last week, he played his 200th IPL match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium last week.

Last month, Bhuvneshwar Kumar became only the second bowler to reach the 200-wicket milestone in the IPL, after legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who reached it in 2024 and has 229 wickets to date.

Only four other bowlers have taken 200-plus wickets in a T20 competition – all in England’s T20 Blast – Danny Briggs (268), Samit Patel (230), Chris Wood (210), and David Payne (210).

–IANS

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