Star Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah expressed his gratitude for his 11 years spent with MI in the Indian Premier League (IPL) during an interview with his wife, Sanjana Ganesan. Jasprit Bumrah revealed that he did not imagine himself playing for the franchise for such a long stretch of time, as he highlighted the impact that MI has had on his career.
Since joining the side in 2013, Jasprit Bumrah has gone on to become one of the most prominent fast bowlers of his generation. Currently, Jasprit Bumrah serves as the leading pace option for MI, as well as for his national side. Nothing went wrong on Thursday as Bumrah teared RCB single handedly with his 5 wicket haul on a placid Wankhede wicket.
‘Difference maker’ Jasprit Bumrah leads MI’s revival
During the Mumbai Indians-Royal Challengers Bangalore match at the Wankhede in Mumbai on Thursday night, Ravi Shastri made a significant comment on air. He dwelt upon Jasprit Bumrah’s fearlessness in bowling yorkers during the powerplay.
Now, one might question the importance of this observation. However, given the minimal outfield protection, precision becomes an overriding necessity for a bowler during this phase, a luxury that can perhaps be afforded in other stages of the game. The execution of the toe-crusher, especially in the initial overs, is crucial as it carries the risk of being dispatched for boundaries.
While Jasprit Bumrah did falter on one occasion, conceding a boundary to Will Jacks, he remains one of the most effective bowlers in the powerplay, and indeed, overall as well. His prowess was evident at the Wankhede, where he dismantled half of the Royal Challengers’ batting lineup. It was a different matter that the visitors could still manage 196, but not enough to test the power-packed Mumbai batting line-up which made a mockery of the total.
Despite the commanding batting display, the Mumbai win was engineered by the skill, accuracy, guile and penetration of Jasprit Bumrah on a wicket that had little for the bowlers. The five-fer in the match was the right reward for his abilities and few bowlers in the league are as deserving of the Purple Cap that he holds now. Incidentally, it was the first five-wicket haul by any bowler against the Royal Challengers.
Jasprit Bumrah is hardly seen at the nets the day before the match, something most other bowlers avoid too, largely to stay fresh for the contest, but those who have followed him say he completes his routine without fail.
He would bowl the overs he is told which is normally between six and 10 overs a net session depending on the format he is preparing for, and mostly stays grounded. “He practices in the nets. He has so much experience and confidence,” MI captain Hardik Pandya said. “I am lucky to have Bumrah on my side. He does this over and over again. Every time I ask him he gets the wickets.”
Jasprit Bumrah attributed his success to preparation. “Preparation is always the key. (It is) important to keep pushing yourself before a game,” he said. “I try to not be a one-trick pony, I have worked on this early in my career. People start to line you up. I want to have different skills. Bowling is tough, because you will have to take a beating. When things have not worked out for me the next day I would see the videos and analyze what did not work. (It was) one of those days where what I was executing was working (sic).”
Jasprit Bumrah has an extensive armory under his belt. He can bowl bouncers, slower ones, swing the ball both ways and of course can deliver Yorkers at will. He can unleash slow cutters. The delivery that got Virat Kohli was a peach. A hard length delivery that cut back and caught Kohli by surprise. He tried to swing but managed to only edge it to the wicketkeeper.
That was the wicket in the powerplay and as he does often, Pandya did not give Bumrah more than one over initially. He came back later to take the wickets of Faf du Plessis, Mahipal Lomror, Saurav Chauhan and Vijaykumar Vyshak and was on a hat-trick twice in those four overs, which he finished with five for 21.
He was the difference, admitted Faf du Plessis. “He has been the difference in the two innings. You want to put him under pressure, but the variety does everyone in. He has got a really good bouncer, slower ball, someone like (Lasith) Malinga. He was the best bowler in T20 cricket, but Bumrah has taken over. You know you can bring him on and take the wickets but also be defensive,” the RCB captain said.
He was supremely effective in the previous match too, against Delhi Capitals, claiming two wickets which came at the right time and gave a result to Mumbai Indians that arrested their three-match losing streak. The problem before the five-time champions is the huge chasm between Jasprit Bumrah and the rest of the bowling lineup, something Ishan Kishan agreed saying, “the team is working on this.” If they had addressed the issue from the start of the season, they would have had more than two wins from five games.
Former cricketer and Star commentator Aakash Chopra is in all praise for India’s speed sensation Jasprit Bumrah after his 5-fer vs RCB.
Aakash Chopra is in all praise of sensational Jasprit Bumrah after his performance versus MI in IPL 2024.
Aakash Chopra reckons Virat Kohli’s overaggressive approach led to his dismissal against Jasprit Bumrah in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) IPL 2024 loss to the Mumbai Indians (MI).
Kohli was dismissed for a nine-ball three as RCB set MI a 197-run target in Mumbai on Thursday, April 11. Hardik Pandya and company achieved the target with seven wickets and 27 deliveries to spare to register their second successive win after starting their campaign with three losses. In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra noted that Kohli chose the wrong bowler to attack at the start of his innings.
“When Mumbai won the toss and asked the opposing team to bat, they couldn’t bat that well. Faf du Plessis was there with Virat Kohli. We were discussing before this match as well that the focus will be on Virat Kohli vs Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah had dismissed him four times before this match. Virat Kohli was his first IPL wicket,” he said
“Here it seemed like Virat Kohli was trying too much because it is in his mind that they score 180-190 but nothing happens with that. So let’s try and aim higher. When you do that, it works against others, but it doesn’t work out against Bumrah. He got an inside edge and Ishan Kishan took an excellent catch behind the wickets,” the former India opener added.
Kohli tried to play an aggressive shot off the first ball he faced from Bumrah and survived a leg-before appeal off the next delivery. He tried to play another big shot off the third ball, only to get an inside edge to Ishan Kishan behind the wickets
“Jasprit Bumrah has become the bowler who makes the match a 16-over affair” – Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra lauded Jasprit Bumrah for consistently bowling penetrative and economical spells.
“That was the first of five wickets Bumrah took. You have a total spell of four overs and he picked up five wickets in that. Jasprit Bumrah has become the bowler who makes the match a 16-over affair. The pitch might be flat and the ground might be small but he doesn’t give runs. He was absolutely stellar,” he observed
While praising the Mumbai Indians seamer for bowling immaculate yorkers, the cricketer-turned-commentator questioned the pay disparity between him and Mitchell Starc.
“He was on a hat-trick twice. He might have broken Mahipal Lomror’s toe. The toe has become his favorite body part. When he sees an opponent, he locks the toe as the target, and the ball goes and hits there. Jasprit Bumrah is worth 12 crores and Mitchell Starc is worth 25 crores – what is happening? It’s extremely wrong,” Chopra stated.
After dismissing Virat Kohli in the third over, Bumrah got rid of Faf du Plessis and Mahipal Lomror off successive deliveries in the 17th over. He then accounted for Saurav Chauhan and Vijaykumar Vysakh’s dismissals off back-to-back deliveries in the penultimate over of RCB’s innings.