Jasprit Bumrah gave another reminder of his value in India’s nervy, high-scoring T20 World Cup semi-final win over England in Mumbai, and Faf du Plessis could hardly hide his admiration.
“Team India don’t understand how lucky they are to have him [Bumrah] in their ranks,” du Plessis said during the TimeOut show. “It is just proven time and time and time again, regardless of the format, you just give him the ball and he wins you games. It’s a superpower that any captain will dream of; it’s like having a genie, you just rub the lamp and out comes Bumrah.”
Those numbers back the praise. On a night when 500 runs were squeezed into 40 overs – India 253 for 6, England 247 for 7 – Bumrah’s analysis read 1 for 33. He bowled the fifth, 11th, 16th and 18th overs and went at 8.25 an over while everyone else bled above 12. Even his rare mis-executed yorkers ended up as low full-tosses England were happy just to nurdle.
“That last over [18th of the innings], they know it is going to be full, yorker or slower ball. That’s generally what you will be getting. And he bowled two low full tosses in the over and both of those balls, Sam Curran was late on the ball,” du Plessis pointed out. “Any other bowler missing in length like that goes for six. [Shivam] Dube bowled that in the last over and he gets pumped for six.”
Why does the same error hurt others more? Du Plessis thinks it is the combination of craft and an action that still feels slightly alien to batters, no matter how many clips they watch.
“His action is so unique that you struggle to pick up how quickly the ball comes out of his wrist. It’s a skill but it is also to do with the mystery of his action, almost like what [Lasith] Malinga did back in the day. The point of difference makes it really hard to line him up in terms of if he misses.”
Suryakumar Yadav, leading India with Rohit Sharma injured, used his trump card sparingly and, in du Plessis’ view, perfectly. With Jacob Bethell on 61* and the equation 45 from 18, Bumrah’s 18th over cost just six.
“He has got value all over the innings when he bowls but the real superpower is the back-end when the game is on the line,” du Plessis said. “And I thought today they used him perfectly; good captaincy, good leadership. When the game was about getting him into the mix and bring the run rate down and try and get wickets, they used him at the perfect overs. It is easy on the side, thinking no pressure and I was like: spot-on captaincy.”
Hardik Pandya’s all-round cameo also drew compliments. The vice-captain rattled a 12-ball 27 to lift India beyond 250 and then dismissed Phil Salt with his very first delivery. Du Plessis felt it was further proof of Pandya’s calm on the big stage, noting that the seamer “has taken his bowling up a notch”.
The semi-final margin was only six runs, yet, as du Plessis stressed, whenever Bumrah appears, the gap feels wider than the scorecard shows.
