Former champions Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have roped in a replacement player for their injured seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). Bhuvneshwar has been ruled out of the season owing to a hip injury.
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It all happened during SRH's game against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Dubai, on Friday. As Bhuvi was bowling, he pulled up on three occasions, citing a niggle in his thigh area, while the physio attended to him twice. After a couple of brief halts, he walked out of the game.
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While his injury did not look serious as such initially, it was presumed that he would be out for a couple of games, as SRH skipper David Warner had said during Mumbai Indians' (MI) game. However, upon further analysis, it is found that Bhuvi won't be able to bowl and is expected to be out of action for some time now.
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Furthermore, it would be interesting to see how long he is out of action. Also, the worrying factor would be if he would be able to recover in time for the upcoming gruelling India's tour of Australia in November, where they are scheduled to play four Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is.
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Meanwhile, SRH have confirmed that they have roped in 22-year-old pacer Prithvi Raj Yarra as Bhuvi's replacement. Although Prithvi is not an ideal replacement for Bhuvi, it has been done to bolster their pace department that already consists of big guns, like Sandeep Sharma, Siddharth Kaul, Basil Thampi, Khaleel Ahmed and T Natarajan.
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“Bhuvneshwar Kumar is ruled out of the #Dream11IPL 2020 due to injury. We wish him a speedy recovery! Prithvi Raj Yarra will replace Bhuvi for the remainder of the season,” SRH announced on their Twitter handle.
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Prithvi, who hails from Andhra, made his debut for the side in 2017 and has since played six First-Class matches, claiming 21 wickets at an average of 24.38. He has played only a List-A game, where he claimed a couple of wickets. He made his IPL debut last year, with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), where he played a couple of games, claiming just a wicket.
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Whether or not Prithvi would make it to the playing XI remains to be seen. However, he is all set to be an integral part of bowlers in nets, where he is sure to learn new bowling sets and skills.
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SRH are currently in the seventh spot of the table. They have, so far, played five games, winning a couple and losing three. They take on bottom-placed Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in their next match on Thursday.
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