Bumrah and Bhuvi are best exponents of yorkers: Tom Moody

Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad are well on course to qualify for IPL 10 playoffs after comprehensively defeating Kolkata Knight Riders in their previous encounter. Both the orange cap and purple cap holders are from SRH which shows their domination in the tournament. David Warner smashed a sensational century the other day to get hold of the orange cap while Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been sitting pretty at the top of the ladder with 20 wickets to his name.

In the previous season too, Bhuvi was the pick of the bowlers for SRH and finished with 23 wickets to bag the purple. He has just played 9 matches this season and has already bagged 20 wickets. While captain David Warner has led from the front topping the batting charts, leggie Rashid Khan has backed up Bhuvi in the bowling department with his wicket taking spells.

They are set to face Delhi Daredevils in a few hours time and coach Tom Moody gave an insight on why Bhuvneshwar Kumar is such a potent force he is today. “The great thing about Bhuvi, from our perspective in T20 cricket, and I’m sure this will relate to 50-over cricket as well, is that he has got great strike-ability at the top with the new ball because he swings it both ways, and he has developed wonderful skills to able to close the innings,” Moody was quoted as saying by Wisden India.

“Those types of bowlers are far and few between – to have the ability to get good players out with the new ball but also come back and be able to finish the innings. I think today, Bhuvi’s economy in the last four overs is in the mid 7s, about 7.5, which is remarkable really in a tournament where probably the bat has dominated in more cases than not. Yes, we have seen a couple of teams blow out and have a couple of poor scores but generally, it has been pretty good batting conditions. I am a huge advocate of Bhuvi and I think in any form of the game he is a terrific bowler,” he further added.

Bhuvi started his career as an out and out swing bowler with his pace varying from 125-135, He was never an express bowler and relied more on his swing to deliver him the goods. But in the last year or so he has added some serious steam to his bowling and can now consistently clock the 140 km mark. He has also developed the knack of executing the wide Yorkers to perfection especially in the death overs.

“Not too many bowlers have got it.You can name with one hand the bowlers in world cricket that have got the yorker skill that (Jasprit) Bumrah has and Bhuvi has. They are right up there when it comes to you feeling reasonably confident that they can get in the block-hole.

“It is the hardest ball to bowl but the most effective one if you can execute it. You get it slightly wrong, it goes out of the park, particularly here in India with the smaller grounds. That skill comes from practice. It’s not that suddenly overnight, you can bowl consistent yorkers. Bhuvi has increased his pace as well over the last two years, so, that’s also helped him be more effective with the new ball upfront and also when he is bowling at the end of the innings,” Moody said.

Afghan teenage sensation Rashid Khan has made a name for himself in this edition. He has been a sensation and many top batsmen have failed to read his googlies. He has an uncanny action which makes life very difficult for the batsman to read him off the pitch. He has bagged 12 wickets in this season so far with an economy rate of 6.91.

“I don’t think he needs to reinvent himself, there are more batsmen out there that need to come to terms which way the ball is turning,” Moody said. “You say his leg-break does not turn, I challenge you to face him. A lot of people are taking greater risks against him as the tournament unfolds. Like last night (Sunday) for instance, (Robin) Uthappa took some early risks against him but you know they were needing 12 and a half an over, you couldn’t afford to keep knocking him around for singles. There was no time to sit on Rashid Khan and then try to take the rest of the attack on because the total (209 for 3) was a considerable one.

“I still think people are finding their way with him and I think it will take a long time, not just this tournament, for people to really come to terms with him,” he added. “You say people are working him out, he took what 1 for 30-odd yesterday, the game before he took 1 for 19. I don’t think people will work him out in a hurry.”

Meanwhile, the southpaw, Shikhar Dhawan has chipped in with a few crucial innings up the order. He also played the 2nd fiddle to perfection against KKR and has already amassed 341 runs in the tournament at a strike rate of 123. Moody feels that it is Dhawan’s presence on the other end which is allowing captain Warner to go all out against the opposition bowlers.

“The partnership between Davey and Shikhar is a significant one. It’s probably the most potent opening partnership in the IPL over the last couple of years and they complement each other. “You are always going to have a situation where you have a player who is more naturally a dominant player and runs at a higher strike rate and that’s David Warner, he can decimate any attack. Shikhar plays an important role in that. They have had a number of 100-run partnerships and you need to have that complement.

If both guys go hammer and tongs at both ends, it will probably fall apart pretty quickly. Shikhar to me has been a significant player for SRH over the last two years. His performance last year was one of the reasons we found ourselves playing in the finals. If you compare him with any other opener in the tournament, he is up there amongst the best and consistently he is up there amongst the best. Yes, his strike rate isn’t a 150 which David Warner’s is, but there’s many ways to skin a cat and you need to have that balance in your side,” Moody concluded.