Bhuvneshwar Kumar delivered a Player-of-the-Match performance in Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) dramatic two-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians (MI) in Raipur on Sunday (May 11).
The right-arm seamer snapped four wickets, helping RCB restrict MI to 166/7 in 20 overs after skipper Rajat Patidar won the toss and opted to bowl first.
During the chase, the defending champions were reduced to 39/3 in 5.1 overs before Krunal Pandya (73 off 46) produced a counter punch to steady the ship.
Needing 15 from the final over, Bhuvneshwar hit a crucial six off Raj Bawa. With two required off the last delivery, Rasikh Salam Dar scrambled for a double to seal the win for RCB.
Impressed with his all-round exploits, former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin strongly endorsed Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a return to the national T20I side.
“Hashtag ‘BringBackBhuvi’, I’d love to see him being considered for the T20I side,” Ashwin said on JioStar. “Tick with the new ball, able to complete the death overs nicely, and if you need a six under pressure, he’s hammering that as well in the toughest part of the ground.”
Bhuvneshwar, 36, is currently leading the IPL 2026 wicket charts with 21 scalps. He dismissed Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma in the match, while leaking 23 runs in his full quota of four overs.
Ashwin highlighted Bhuvneshwar's ability to take early wickets, specifically mentioning his "proper Test-match" bowling against MI.
“That was proper Test-match bowling after he realised there was something on the surface. He keeps testing you as an opening batter,” Ashwin said. “To dismiss Rohit Sharma with that peach, a slower ball that just swung, was quite incredible.”
Ashwin also praised Kumar’s capability to execute yorkers and control runs in the death overs. “And later on, he was selfless enough to execute the yorker when he could have gone for a fourth wicket. Extremely happy for him,” he added.
With this win, RCB moved to the top of the IPL 2026 points table with 14 points from 11 matches. On the other hand, MI were officially eliminated from the playoffs race after this result.
