The power of Jasprit Bumrah was evident in the India vs. Pakistan T20 World Cup encounter. The Indian challenge appeared to be fading as they defended a modest total of 119 in New York on Monday, but the speed spearhead came up with the big wickets of Iftikhar Ahmed and Mohammad Rizwan. On a difficult drop-in pitch, India was asked to bat first and was eventually bowled out for 119, mostly thanks to a valiant 42 off of 31 balls by Rishabh Pant.
Ever since his recovery from injury, his return to the international cricket scene Jasprit Bumrah has been in incredible form. Players found it extremely tough to get runs against him in the Indian Premier League 2024, and he was one of the finest bowlers in the ODI World Cup 2023. Bumrah bowled brilliantly on the challenging pitch in New York and extended that form into the T20 World Cup.
Nevertheless, India responded magnificently, limiting Pakistan to 113/7 in 20 overs with wickets from Bumrah (3-14) and Pandya (2-24). At one point, Pakistan was 80/4 and needed just 40 runs to win the match with six wickets remaining, but the Indian bowling team knotted them up as they lost by six runs.
Jasprit Bumrah Wins Matches For India
Sanjay Manjrekar, a former star of the Indian cricket team, made an intriguing post on X. “Jasprit Bumrah quietly wins games for India on his own, while the Indian media is fixated on Virat Kohli and company. The Indian team’s best player by a wide margin, and has been for some time.
“While Indian media obsesses over Virat Kohli & Co Jasprit Bumrah quitley wins games for India single handedly. By far the best player in the Indian Team & has been for a while now” he posted on X.
In the meantime, Indian bowlers, particularly Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, have been showered with accolades by 1983 World Cup victor Madan Lal for orchestrating a six-run triumph against bitter rivals Pakistan. He said :
“All credit goes to the bowlers. I will have to praise them for the way they bowled as a unit, especially Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya. Pandya’s four overs proved very crucial. The spinners too bowl well. To win a match while defending a target of 120 is a big achievement,” Madan Lal told IANS on Monday.
Madan Lal, who played for Kapil’s Devils when they successfully defended 183 against the formidable West Indies in the 1983 World Cup final, said that India’s victory over Pakistan will greatly enhance their confidence going into the T20 World Cup. India had won their opening Twenty20 World Cup encounter against Ireland.
However, Madan Lal stated that since winning with a score of 120 is not always achievable, the Indian batting will need to perform better in the next games.
“I feel the Indian batting unit will have to improve in the subsequent matches as it is not possible to win every time by scoring 120 runs,” he said.