Bhatt, in his debut first-class season, picked up 47 wickets from 9 matches to become the highest wicket-taker of the season.[3] His impressive showing was awarded, as he got an IPL contract with the Kings XI Punjab franchise in 2011. He continued his good run in the Twenty20 format too with economic bowling. He had figures of 2.5-0-22-4 against Mumbai Indians for which he earned the Man-of-the-Match award.[4]