India vs South Africa: Bhuvneshwar Kumar was special throughout the series, says Proteas coach Mark Boucher

South Africa head coach Mark Boucher heaped praise on Bhuvneshwar Kumar, saying the India pacer posed a constant threat to the visitors during the recently-concluded 5-match series.

South Africa head coach Mark Boucher heaped praise on Bhuvneshwar Kumar, saying the senior India pacer proved to be a threat to the visiting team in the recently-concluded 5-match T20I series. Boucher said it was Bhuvneshwar who put the brakes on the scoring rate throughout the series after the off-day in New Delhi where South Africa chased down 211.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar won the Player of the Series Award for his exploits of 6 wickets in 4 matches. The senior pacer picked up 6 wickets and was lethal in the powerplay, getting the ball to move both ways. Bhuvneshwar conceded at just 6.07 runs per over, the best economy rate for India in the 5-match series.

Bhuvneshwar became the first Indian pace to win more than one Player of the Series honour in T20I cricket and overtook Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma's tally of 3 Player of the Series awards in international cricket.

"Bhuvi was special in this whole series as we came up against some quality bowling. He put us under pressure in Powerplays and barring one game (Delhi), where we got off to a good start, they have dominated us with both ball and bat in Powerplays," Boucher said after the series ended in a 2-2 draw.

South Africa went up 2-0 in the 5-match series after winning in New Delhi and Cuttack but they bounced back to level the series with comprehensive victories in Visakhapatnam and Rajkot.

India had the momentum as they headed into the series finale in Bengaluru but rain played spoilsport as only 3.3 overs were bolwed.

BOUCHER LAUDS INDIA DEPTH