T20 World Cup Super Eight: Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar lauded pacer Jasprit Bumrah after his 3-7 match-setting spell against Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup Super Eight match in Barbados on Thursday.
India defeated Afghanistan by 47 runs to start their Super Eight campaign on high. Manjrekar highlighted the importance of Bumrah and said the Rohit Sharma-led side is fortunate to have him in playing 11.
After setting a target of 182 to win at the back of Suryakumar Yadav’s blistering half-century, Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh picked three scalps each while Kuldeep Yadav grabbed two dismissals to bowl out Afghanistan for 134 in 20 overs.
“Jasprit Bumrah is performing in USA and West Indies just like Sunil Narine at Eden Gardens during the IPL. There were many matches when he had not conceded the boundary and look at the difference between him and the couple of other seamers. They were also international standard, but quite rightly I mean, he’s looking even better and when you look at all the top-class bowlers around the world. There’s a big margin between them and Bumrah and India is so fortunate to have him in your playing 11,” Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo TIMEOUT show.
Former India spinner Anil Kumble also mentioned the fact that Bumrah has a plan for each batter and he uses his bowling variations very smartly.
“The kind of understanding of his own bowling you can make out, even when he got Rahmanullah Gurbaz out on a slower ball and wide line. He gets the execution perfect. You know, that’s what it is. It’s about yes the variations every bowler has variations. But executing all those variations under pressure getting the line right getting the length, right? For each batsman he would have figured that out and then doing it right in a big game. This doesn’t come easy and I think he has given limited boundaries in the entire tournament,” Kumble said.
India are unbeaten in the showpiece event with four wins and a washout against Canada. In their next Super Eight match, India will take on Bangladesh in Antigua on Saturday.