Has India found the solution for their death over worries?
India were the unanimous choice to lift the T20 World Cup before the start of the tournament. But, Black Caps had other ideas. They defeated the former comprehensively by 48 runs. And quite surprisingly, India lost because their batsmen had no clue against New Zealand spinners.
India were shell-shocked after the opening game and all the remaining matches turned out to be a knock-out. They beat Pakistan, by virtue of the run machine, Mr. Consistent Virat Kohli. Kohli, along with Yuvraj Singh helped India to pass the first hurdle.
Two more matches left. One against ever improving Bangladesh and other versus mighty Aussies. They thought that overcoming Tigers would be easy and the match was planned to take place at Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore, the IPL home ground of India's Test captain. Cricket pundits predicted a run feast and an easy victory for India.
Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bowl. Fans were happy because they were about to witness a run feast by the winners of the inaugural World T20.
But India couldn't even go past 150. They eventually ended their innings at a paltry 146-7. Batting seemed to be difficult. Still, they believed they can bowl out the opposition.
Horrible start by Bumrah
India's old war horse Nehra started the proceedings. The first ball has gone for a four, thanks to Jasprit Bumrah who completely messed up an easy stop. Had he stopped it, he could have saved three runs for the team.
He came to bowl the second over of the innings and was disciplined as he has given only three runs. In Ashwin's second over, Tamim Iqbal chipped one in the air, it went straight to Bumrah but he put it down. One misfielding followed by a dropped catch. He looked visibly disappointed.
Then, the Mumbai Indian's bowler came to bowl his next. To add insult to injury, Iqbal hit him for four boundaries. The thoughts of the misfielding and the drop catch might have been going through his mind.
Dream come back
It was the 17th over of the innings. India's spin duo of Aswin and Jadeja have already finished their quota. The Tigers needed only 35 runs from 4 overs. Win seemed to be a walk in the park. Mahmudullah and Soumya Sarkar were at the crease. The former is in form and the latter is known for aggressive batting.
Bumrah till then had a horrible day at the office but Dhoni has no other choice. What happened next? The medium pacer bowled almost all the balls in the block hole. All are measured ones. Dhoni dropped a difficult chance as well. Mahmadullah and Sarkar couldn't do much as they were able to score only 7 runs from the over.
To come back from an earlier setback, it was something commendable. This young boy has some serious talent. But his job wasn't done yet.
The 18th over was bowled by veteran Nehra. Though, he got the wicket of Sarkar he conceded 10 runs. Considering the circumstances, it was costly and the equation shifted hugely in Bangladesh's favour. Just 17 needed from 12.
Once again, Dhoni gave the bowl to the 22-year-old Gujarat pacer. The speedster has a mixed day so far. Can he deliver?
Yes, he did. He bowled an absolute peach of an over and given only 6 runs. It was a massive boost for India. They have got 11 runs to defend in the final over and eventually went on to win the game by 1 run.
Coming to bowl in a pressure situation and hit yorker length consistently was really impressive. In the last 12 deliveries, he has bowled 9-10 yorkers. India never had a fast bowler who hit blockholes this often.
Over the years, India struggled to find a death over bowler. They tried and tested many but nobody could match what Bumrah is doing now. This is not the first time he is bowling well at the death. He has been doing it in ever since his debut.
India had some promising fast bowlers with the likes of Irfan Pathan and S Sreesanth but no one stayed long enough. Even though it is too early to predict that Bumrah will be one of the best Indian bowlers but, one thing is sure this man has got great skill and attitude. Wishing him all the success in the future.