Bhuvneshwar is among top 5 T20 bowlers: Moises Henriques

While there were a lot of ‘friendship’ related talks ever since the recently concluded India-Australia Test series, the Australian all-rounder, Moises Henriques feels that the tensions arise due to the competition in which the series was played and a stage like Indian Premier League helps to develop the mingle between the players of different nations while representing the franchises.

“Whatever happens on the field is competitive and emotional. When you slow down and realise you know that life is bit more important than Cricket and you start building very good relationships,”

“It (IPL) breaks down all the barriers between players off the field, which is probably the most important place because that is where you get to know each other. Once you get to know people and what they like off the field, we start to build friendships,” said Henriques during a media interaction on Thursday.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad player has highly rated his team-mate, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, saying that he is among the top 5 bowlers right now in the T20 cricket.

“Bhuvneshwar Kumar is one of the most consistent bowlers in T20 cricket I have seen. He puts out his best for us every game and every year. He is a world class T20 bowler on wickets in India which don’t always suit for fast bowlers. Definitely, he is among the top five T20 bowlers. If I was the manager of a team, he will be among the first bowlers I will try for,” says Henriques in all praise for the Indian right-arm seamer.

“When he came on yesterday with 4-5 overs were remaining, he bowled 4 perfect yorkers and a couple of leg cutters and gave just 3 runs in an over when the required rate was about 13 an over,” said Henriques about Bhuvi’s 2nd spell in the opening game.

Yuvraj Singh scored a brilliant 62 off just 27 balls against RCB to set up a comfortable win for the defending champions. Henriques shared a 58-run stand with Yuvraj, out of which Moises scored just 17 runs. Talking about Yuvi’s knock, Henriques expressed his happiness as the veteran’s form could be a boon for SRH in defending their title.

“Definitely age doesn’t matter. We saw him yesterday. He showed how destructive he can still be. He always had one of the beautiful bat swings. It was so pure and natural. For him to bat like that very early in the tournament to get that sort of confidence, I was sure he was full confident especially at the way he batted in some of the innings recently. It was fantastic for us to see him batting so well because we all know how good of a player he can be.”

An early dismissal of David Warner brought Moises to the crease as early as 2nd over which according to the right-hander was an opportunity to spend some time at the crease and construct the innings for his side.

“I think that gave me the opportunity for me to get set and to build an innings. I thought Shikhar changed the game a bit in the 6th over where he scored 16-17 runs and gave us a lot of momentum. But once he got out, I had to build another partnership with Yuvraj. As soon as he came, he must have liked the way the bowlers were bowling and really went over them and took out the pressure over me. He was hitting so many boundaries and it was important for me to get off the strike. He was making the batting look easy,” said Henriques about his game during the opening game of the 10th season.

When asked about whether he playing at No.3 spoils Kane Williamson’s chances to feature in XI, Henriques says that he actually rates Kane more than him but it is the team decision as he offers to be a bowling option.

“Kane Williamson is among the best batters in the world. There are different things to make up for that decision like obviously I am for bowling few overs. It is actually quite humbling to play in front of him. I reckon he is among the best players in the world and must say I rate him higher than what I regard myself (laughs). But it is not something I think while I am playing. Many players say, the higher you bat in T20s, the more chance for you to be able to score more runs as you get more time there and play well.”

While Henriques played an important role in the opening game by batting at 3, he doesn’t think he could play at the same position in the next game as that is such his role in this team and he is quite happy to do it.

“I have played many roles in past for Sunrisers. Playing anywhere in the batting order between 3 and 6 depending on what the team needs and chipping in with a few overs with the ball whenever I am required to do. I guess this year it was nice to get to bat at 3 and spend some time in the middle. Different games require different strategies and the next game I might not bat at 3. I am happy to play according to what the team needs.”