How Jasprit Bumrah completely changed the game in India’s favour v Pakistan
11 Jun 2024 11:10:51
-Devdeep Tyagi
When it comes to T20 cricket, there’s a saying that has now become popular and perhaps makes great sense.
It’s said, “batsmen win you matches, while it’s bowlers who win you tournaments!”
Chances are, if you are Jasprit Bumrah, you are perhaps nodding your head silently in approval.
In a contest where big starry batsmen with world-class records were supposed to have emerged as impact players, think the great Virat Kohli and the indomitable Rohit Sharma, it was Jasprit Bumrah who took India over the line and in a manner that was nerve-wracking and full of action.
Quite frankly, the way Bumrah is going about his business, executing plans with much perfection and seeming utterly unafraid of any kind of batter, it could well be that he helps India win the T20 World Cup tournament.
But there in New York, surely, a total of 120 was never seemingly enough. India were never in the driver’s seat after putting up with a disappointing performance with the bat.
All that India’s big-hitting and star-studded line-up that besides having Kohli and Sharma also featured Suryakumar, Pant, Axar, Jadeja and Hardik could manage was an asking rate of 6 an over.
It was to have been fairly easy, a cakewalk if you like.
It was by no stretch of the imagination, a giant score and quite frankly, at 80 for 4, it was still Pakistan’s game.
But then it’s never game over when India contest with a certain Jasprit Bumrah.
A phenomenon
Lest it is forgotten, in the past half a decade, Bumrah has been a constant for India.
He’s been the recurring phenomenon- and a phenomenon he certainly is- despite several factors changing around him.
Shami no longer plays all formats. Ishant Sharma is largely an ex-cricketer. There are times where even the great Ashwin goes wicketless or finds himself the wrong part of the wood. Then there flat trackers.
Bumrah- a magician
But on his part, Jasprit Bumrah performs akin to a sorcerer who compels the batsmen to consume his magic potion. It’s one that features a tricky mix of a clever bouncer, a deceptively slower one and not to forget, the toe crushing yorker that rattles the stumps.
Speaking of the latter, Bumrah bamboozled Mohd. Rizwan with an absolute peach of the delivery; the right hander had up to that point, seemed firmly in control of the proceedings. His wicket was crucial. It was perhaps just the kind of breakthrough India were yearning for.
How Bumrah broke Pakistan’s back at NY
However, before this big moment, Jasprit Bumrah had already exposed chinks in Pakistan’s batting armour.
In the fifth over itself, Bumrah executed a stunning dismissal of the big fish Babar Azam, when a delivery around 140 clicks pitched around length nipped in, resulting in a stunning catch thanks to Suryakumar Yadav.
Eventually, with fine assistance from his colleagues, Arshdeep and Hardik, it was time for Jasprit Bumrah to go for the kill.
You couldn’t be doubted for thinking that Iftikhar Ahmed could’ve emerged the danger man from India’s point of view but then the obvious bigger danger was contesting Bumrah in red hot form. A low full toss that was darted on the pads was mistimed and then, all that Arshdeep Singh had to do was to collect the ball. Bumrah had struck, again. India were flying. Pakistan down and dejected. Crushed even!
True impact
However, all of that said, you realise Jasprit Bumrah’s true mastery of his craft in terms of the actual impact he brings in T20’s, which is unabashedly known as the batsmen’s game. Yesterday, he bowled his full quota of 4 overs, from which 15 were dot balls, conceding in the end just 14 runs while picking 3 crucial wickets.
Each of his wicket further dented Pakistan’s hopes.
In that form of cricket where sixes and fours are but the order of the day, Bumrah uses his razor sharp mind and supreme execution to do a cultivation of dot balls, which inadvertently compel batsmen to do something erroneous or commit themselves to a false shot.
Bumrah builds the pressure the way the Romans and the Greeks built pathbreaking architecture, with pristine focus and unending discipline. If India are to progress beyond the group stage and save the date on June 29, the big day at Barbados, then Jasprit Bumrah would be just as important as any of its world renowned dashers with the bat.
When it comes to T20 cricket, there’s a saying that has now become popular and perhaps makes great sense.
It’s said, “batsmen win you matches, while it’s bowlers who win you tournaments!”
Chances are, if you are Jasprit Bumrah, you are perhaps nodding your head silently in approval.
In a contest where big starry batsmen with world-class records were supposed to have emerged as impact players, think the great Virat Kohli and the indomitable Rohit Sharma, it was Jasprit Bumrah who took India over the line and in a manner that was nerve-wracking and full of action.
Quite frankly, the way Bumrah is going about his business, executing plans with much perfection and seeming utterly unafraid of any kind of batter, it could well be that he helps India win the T20 World Cup tournament.
But there in New York, surely, a total of 120 was never seemingly enough. India were never in the driver’s seat after putting up with a disappointing performance with the bat.
All that India’s big-hitting and star-studded line-up that besides having Kohli and Sharma also featured Suryakumar, Pant, Axar, Jadeja and Hardik could manage was an asking rate of 6 an over.
It was to have been fairly easy, a cakewalk if you like.
It was by no stretch of the imagination, a giant score and quite frankly, at 80 for 4, it was still Pakistan’s game.
But then it’s never game over when India contest with a certain Jasprit Bumrah.
A phenomenon
Lest it is forgotten, in the past half a decade, Bumrah has been a constant for India.
He’s been the recurring phenomenon- and a phenomenon he certainly is- despite several factors changing around him.
Shami no longer plays all formats. Ishant Sharma is largely an ex-cricketer. There are times where even the great Ashwin goes wicketless or finds himself the wrong part of the wood. Then there flat trackers.
Bumrah- a magician
But on his part, Jasprit Bumrah performs akin to a sorcerer who compels the batsmen to consume his magic potion. It’s one that features a tricky mix of a clever bouncer, a deceptively slower one and not to forget, the toe crushing yorker that rattles the stumps.
Speaking of the latter, Bumrah bamboozled Mohd. Rizwan with an absolute peach of the delivery; the right hander had up to that point, seemed firmly in control of the proceedings. His wicket was crucial. It was perhaps just the kind of breakthrough India were yearning for.
How Bumrah broke Pakistan’s back at NY
However, before this big moment, Jasprit Bumrah had already exposed chinks in Pakistan’s batting armour.
In the fifth over itself, Bumrah executed a stunning dismissal of the big fish Babar Azam, when a delivery around 140 clicks pitched around length nipped in, resulting in a stunning catch thanks to Suryakumar Yadav.
Eventually, with fine assistance from his colleagues, Arshdeep and Hardik, it was time for Jasprit Bumrah to go for the kill.
You couldn’t be doubted for thinking that Iftikhar Ahmed could’ve emerged the danger man from India’s point of view but then the obvious bigger danger was contesting Bumrah in red hot form. A low full toss that was darted on the pads was mistimed and then, all that Arshdeep Singh had to do was to collect the ball. Bumrah had struck, again. India were flying. Pakistan down and dejected. Crushed even!
True impact
However, all of that said, you realise Jasprit Bumrah’s true mastery of his craft in terms of the actual impact he brings in T20’s, which is unabashedly known as the batsmen’s game. Yesterday, he bowled his full quota of 4 overs, from which 15 were dot balls, conceding in the end just 14 runs while picking 3 crucial wickets.
Each of his wicket further dented Pakistan’s hopes.
In that form of cricket where sixes and fours are but the order of the day, Bumrah uses his razor sharp mind and supreme execution to do a cultivation of dot balls, which inadvertently compel batsmen to do something erroneous or commit themselves to a false shot.
Bumrah builds the pressure the way the Romans and the Greeks built pathbreaking architecture, with pristine focus and unending discipline. If India are to progress beyond the group stage and save the date on June 29, the big day at Barbados, then Jasprit Bumrah would be just as important as any of its world renowned dashers with the bat.