Bhuvneshwar Kumar records most wickets in Powerplay in T20I history

Bhuvneshwar Kumar / Source: Twitter

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, on Thursday (September 8) became the leading wicket-taker in the powerplay in the history of T20Is with his 43rd wicket in the shortest format during India’s Asia Cup 2022 Super 4 match against Afghanistan in Dubai.

The right-arm quick overtook New Zealand pacer Tim Southee's tally of 41 wickets to achieve the landmark while former West Indies bowler Samuel Badree is third in the tally with 35 wickets. 

The 32-year-old wreaked havoc on the Afghanistan batting lineup and returned with astounding figures of 5/4 – his best in T20Is so far from his complete quota of four overs. 

Bhuvneshwar Kumar' registers best T20I figures

Defending the stiff target of 213 runs, Bhuvneshwar Kumar became the pace nightmare for the opposition with the new ball, sending both Afghan openers Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz back to the shed for ducks.

The Meerut pacer then bowled a stunning swinging delivery to Karim Janat to send him packing for 2 off 4 in the 3rd over of the innings. Najibullah Zadran was next to fall prey to the swing master, who picked up 4/4 in 3 overs in the powerplay. 

He then got rid of Azmatullah Omarzai in 6.5 overs to complete his five-wicket haul and finished with the figures of 5 for 4 from 4 overs, including one maiden over. 

As for the match, team India steamrolled Afghanistan by 101 runs in the high-scoring thriller. Earlier, after putting to bat first, the Blue Shirts went on to chart 212 runs on the board, thanks to Virat Kohli's sensational century and KL Rahul's stunning fifty. 

Afghanistan, in reply, couldn't ever get the momentum in the run-chase as they were pushed to extreme backfoot by the Indian bowlers from ball one. Ibrahim Zadran's unbeaten half-century knock was the only bright spot for Afghanistan in their otherwise underwhelming batting performance.   

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