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Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar continues his brilliant form against the arch-rivals Mumbai Indians (MI). He dismissed both of the MI openers, Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton, in short intervals.
Former cricketers and cricket experts are also mesmerized by the bowling of the experienced RCB pacer, who is among the top leading wicket-takers in the ongoing Indian Premier League season. During the ongoing RCB vs MI IPL 2026 match, former Team India keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik was in the commentary box when Rohit Sharma was up against Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Dinesh Karthik decoded Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s mystery
During the match, Karthik stated that Bhuvneshwar Kumar is still constantly effective because of his consistency and discipline. And the swings. Among the cricket fans, Kumar is known as the ‘swing king’. At the age of 36, the pacer still managed to do it in an effective way.
“His secrets are his consistency and discipline. He swings the ball both ways with mixing an odd, slower, or knuckle one like he did to Rohit tonight,” Dinesh Karthik said during the match on May 10.
Kumar utilised the conditions well vs MI
At first glance, the pitch of the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Raipur looked a little, but tricky. It is RCB’s home match, still, as the ground is new to them, the nature was not well known to both of the sides in tonight’s game.
Because of the unknown nature of the surface, the RCB skipper Rajat Patidar decided to bowl first, and he invited the away team, the Mumbai Indians, to bat in the first innings.
In the last couple of days before the match, there was rain in Raipur. That also might have influenced the nature of the match. As the conditions are also in favor of the bowlers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar quickly found his rhythm against the Mumbai Indians, one of the most successful teams in league history.
In 4 overs, Kumar concluded his spell with 4 wickets in his back, only for an economy rate of 5.75. During the spell, he picked up the wickets of Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, MI captain Suryakumar Yadav, and Tilak Varma. Because of Kumar’s effective spell, MI were restricted to only 166 runs in 20 overs, in exchange for 7 wickets.
Bhuvneshwar today (by lengths)
Full: 1/6 (4 balls)
Good: 2/13 (18 balls)
Short: 1/4 (2 balls)
The RCB pacer achieved a rare record
Through the 4-wicket spell, Bhuvneshwar Kumar matched an all-time IPL record. Ahead of the RCB vs MI match, Harshal Patel was the only bowler who had six three-wicket hauls in the league. Now, Kumar also has as many as 6-wicket hauls in the Indian Premier League.
During the mid-innings, Bhuvi said, “Honestly, it was a tricky wicket. It looks like you’re going to have a good time as a bowler. The next ball goes for a boundary. So yes, it was a tricky wicket, but we did well. We had a few plans going into the match. Before the match, we planned a few things and we executed that really well. I was thinking that I was being proactive.”
Most 3-wicket hauls in an IPL season
6 – Harshal Patel (2021)
6 – Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2026)*
