[Watch] MI's new recruit Nuwan Thushara dismisses Jos Buttler and Fabian Allen with searing slinging yorkers in SA20 league

MI Cape Town pacer Nuwan Thushara bowled a wonderful spell and was the lone shining light in a disappointing outing against Paarl Royals at the Boland Park in SA20 on Sunday (January 21).

Thushara was in the news last month as Mumbai Indians (MI) signed him with a hefty ₹4.8 crore bid at the IPL 2024 auction. It was perceived by some as a risky move as MI paid a handsome amount for a relatively unknown pacer hailing from Sri Lanka, who has an action similar to Lasith Malinga.

MI then roped him in for the SA20 league earlier this month as a replacement. Nuwan Thushara repaid the team management's faith and showed his potential by cleaning up Jos Buttler with a searing yorker in the 14th match of the league on Sunday. He also dismissed Fabian Allen (lbw) with another yorker on the very next ball and finished with figures of 4-0-27-2.

You can watch the wickets in the video below:

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MI Cape Town suffer a 59-run loss against Paarl Royals as Nuwan Thushara's bowling efforts go in vain

After being asked to bat first, Paarl Royals managed to reach a decent total of 160/3 in 20 overs. Their openers, Jason Roy (69) and Jos Buttler (54) starred in the batting department and put on a 116-run partnership for the first wicket. Thushara scalped two wickets for MI Cape Town.

MI's batting unit failed miserably in the chase as they were bundled out for 103 in 18.2 overs without putting up a fight against the opposition bowlers. Bjorn Fortuin scalped three wickets, while Lungi Ngidi, Obed McCoy, and Tabraiz Shamsi picked up two wickets apiece for the Paarl Royals.

Reflecting on the loss during the post-match presentation, MI Cape Town captain Kieron Pollard said:

"Obviously we didn't bat very well with the bat, restricted them to 160 odd was good, but rocked early in the powerplay from where we never recovered. We expected them go hard, with the brand new ball, expected them to score quickly early on.

He added:

"A couple of big overs in the middle and may be limited them 5 or 10 less in hindsight would've been good, but 163 on that track, I was happy at the end. You think about your strengths, oppositions strengths, weakness and stuff like that, when you make a decision it goes the other way, you get a lot of questions and where as if it works for you, then nobody asks about it.