It was a day of superb individual performances in the Indian Premier League [IPL] as first Manish Pandey steered Kolkata Knight Riders home with an unbeaten 69 against the Delhi Daredevils, followed by Manan Vohra’s 50-ball 95 which almost single-handedly took Kings XI Punjab to victory against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
But the Player of the Day is the match-winner from the evening game – Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The Indian pace bowler registered his career-best bowling figures in the IPL and guided Hyderabad to a thrilling five-run win over Punjab.
Bhuvneshwar ended the match with five wickets and conceded just 19 runs from his four overs as he continued his splendid run of form with the ball in the ongoing IPL season.
The 27-year-old took the crucial wickets of Hashim Amla and Glenn Maxwell with the new ball, and then came back in the death overs to dismiss Mohit Sharma, KC Cariappa and then accounted for the all-important scalp of Vohra, the decisive moment in the match.
Bhuvneshwar has the Purple Cap with 15 wickets to his name in the tournament so far and it doesn’t look like anyone will take that cap away from him anytime soon.
SOCIAL CHATTER
#Bhuvi nailed it with his best figures of 5-19 to have us win by 5 runs. Here's to rising again. 👊 #OrangeArmy #SRHvKXIP pic.twitter.com/xgXK2PS3Iq
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) April 17, 2017
What a game of cricket @lionsdenkxip vs @SunRisers absolutely brilliant bowling @BhuviOfficial 👌👌 well batted my young gun @ImMananVohra 👏👍
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) April 17, 2017
Great fighting win #orangearmy brilliant again from #Warner & #Bhuvi Special mention to #Vohra quality innings!
— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket) April 17, 2017
@BhuviOfficial #differentgravy at the death #yorkers #IPL2017
— Alex Tudor (@alextudorcoach) April 17, 2017
Bhuvi was brilliant last season and just as good this year. Class is permanent #srhvkxip @IPL
— Ajit Vijaykumar (@ajvk1984) April 17, 2017
Best figures for Indian pacers in #IPL
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) April 17, 2017
5/12 Ishant Sharma (2011)
5/19 BHUVNESHWAR KUMAR (Today)
5/21 Munaf Patel (2011)#SRHvKXIP