Bumrah snatches his cap from the umpire in disgust and puts it over himself, contemplating his bowling choices in that particular over. He had gone for 45 runs in his spell of four overs. The last time he had gone for that many was way back in 2016 against West Indies in the game where KL Rahul scored his maiden T20I ton in vain.
He may not have taken as many wickets, but he was instrumental in India winning the first two T20Is with his miserly bowling. The hosts knew they had to take on Bumrah to put India on the mat and they did so with aplomb.
Bumrah had used his natural angle and the back of the length stock delivery to trouble the Kiwis in the first two games, but this time the Black Caps did the homework.
Right from the first over, the Kiwis anticipated the length and looked to take Bumrah on. Guptill hit him for a couple of sixes in his first over. The first ball Kane Williamson faced from Bumrah was guided past the short third man fielder for a boundary. Bumrah was going at ten runs per over while the team conceded at 7.3 r.p.o.
New Zealand needed 43 from four overs, and Jasprit conceded three fours in as many balls to Kane. A fuller one sliced behind point, length ball heaved behind square leg and slower one lifted over covers. In an over, Williamson had thrown Bumrah’s variety to the bin. He conceded two more boundaries in his next over with Taylor taking a leaf out of Kane’s book.
It was something that had happened before as well, Glenn Maxwell had similarly used Bumrah’s natural angle not just to deny him wickets but also take runs off him when he scored his century in Bengaluru in 2019.
It left his colleague Mohammed Shami with an uphill task of defending just eight runs. Bumrah had defended the very same against England a few years ago, but this time he wasn’t going to bowl the final over, the way his day had gone, he could have gone for that many in the first two balls itself. It was not a typical day, and Bumrah was eager to come back stronger.
Shami conceded six of the very first ball yet found a way to keep his side in the game by castling Ross Taylor on the final ball of the over. Bumrah had another shot at redemption.
In the Super Over, he conceded two runs of the first two balls, and it looked on. The third ball, though, Bumrah was brought back down to his mortal best. Williamson stepped back and across and whipped a length ball over backward square leg for a biggie.
Bumrah looked shattered. He went for the yorkers but only managed to dish out full tosses which were hit to the long off and long on fences. As the Kiwis walked back to the hut, Bumrah was staring into something, wondering what had hit him that day. A close-up revealed his eyes were fixed on the Kiwi skipper. Very few people have dominated Bumrah like him, and it is now that Bumrah’s path to greatness will be written.
Great players find a way to continue their good first run despite the opponents throwing things at them. To leave a legacy, you have to learn a lot over the period of time and after the hammering at Hamilton, the kind of person Bumrah is, you can’t be not excited for his reply.
Bumrah made his comeback to the side after the stress fracture against Sri Lanka in December. He had played international cricket for two months and in the first game itself, he looked rusty and out of sorts, hit for 32 runs in his four-over. It was the first time in 34 games that he had been hit for two boundaries in the last over.
Teams are planning it better against Bumrah, and you can be pretty sure Bumrah is already working on a counter to these onslaughts against him.
“He asks you a lot of questions, and then when he has free time, he tries out various things. He’s smart, and if he’s stuck anywhere, he will ask you questions. He’s not satisfied. He’s always looking for ways he can improve as a bowler,” India’s bowling coach Bharat Arun told ESPNCricinfo about Jasprit and it won’t be long before Bumrah will be back with his arms going wide and asking the batsmen more questions than looking for answers!
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