Bhuvneshwar: 'Death bowling is like an instinct'

Bhuvneshwar Kumar might be a little understated, but he is a bonafide IPL superstar. No quick bowler has taken more wickets than his 193 in the tournament, and only Yuzvendra Chahal (219 at the time of writing) stands in front of him in the overall list. And he has found ways to stay relevant in a fast-changing game by "being proactive - to be a step ahead of the batter".

His new/old team Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are having a season to remember, and part of the reason is the combination Bhuvneshwar has formed with Josh Hazlewood and Yash Dayal: between them, they have 40 wickets so far. RCB have also been the second-most economical bowling side at the death (overs 17 to 20) in IPL 2025, conceding runs at 10.23, a shade behind Mumbai Indians' (MI) 10.22.

"I am back in RCB after 16 years and I am very happy to be back," Bhuvneshwar said in a video released by the franchise. "From the 2008-09 or 2010 season to now in 2025, things are very different. I had come in as a young player and now I have come back with so much more experience.

"If you talk about Yash and Josh, and the three of us - we are the same but different as well. If we talk about the aspects that are similar, the three of us can swing it. And then if you look at Josh Hazlewood, he has the height, and Yash is a left-arm pacer, which helps create a different angle altogether. And the best part is that all three of us can bowl at any stage of the game, and we have done it as well. These qualities help complement each other a lot.

"And if you look back in the season, there have been times that I have not done well, but they have backed me up, or if someone hasn't had a good day, the rest of the bowlers have stepped up. So we are complementing each other and it is a great sign."

Bhuvneshwar has had two good outings in Bengaluru this season, returning identical figures of 2 for 26 against Delhi Capitals (DC) and Punjab Kings (PBKS), but both of those came in defeats for RCB when they were in the middle of a horror run at home. The big effort came in Delhi when he played a big role in RCB's win by sending back KL Rahul, Ashutosh Sharma and Tristan Stubbs on his way to 3 for 33. Rahul and Ashutosh were felled in the 17th over and Stubbs in the 20th. In the 11 overs Bhuvneshwar has bowled at the death this season, he has five wickets and an economy rate of 10.09.

"Death bowling is like an instinct. It depends on what is the situation of the match and what you are thinking as well," Bhuvneshwar, the only bowler to have won the Purple Cap in successive seasons - 2016 and 2017 - said. "When there are team meetings, you plan things in a particular way. But a lot of times, you do it differently on the ground, because that instinct kicks in.

"Sometimes there is a very normal situation going on, but you have an instinct that the batter is going to do something different. So that's when we call it being proactive - to be a step ahead of the batter. There are times when it doesn't work, but as long as you are proactive and you are getting the batter to do the things you want, you will be on top of the game."