IPL 2017: Jasprit Bumrah speaks about the secret behind his success

A hero was born!

What’s the story?

Young seamer Jasprit Bumrah is the new toast of the town after his unreal super over in the match against the Gujarat Lions. 

The Mumbai Indians bowler was sensational in the one-over eliminator as he defended 11 runs and eventually won the game for his team by 4 runs. With this win, Mumbai have now won 7 matches in their 9 games and are placed handsomely to make it to the play-offs. 

“I don't practice like how (Lasith) Malinga does it by keeping a shoe (which the Lankan ace then tries to hit with his toe-crushers'). I practice with him on how to bowl the yorker consistently, but I always have a death bowling session whenever I practice as it's  important,  because this is the time I bowl for Gujarat in domestic matches, for India and for MI. So constantly whenever I practice, I've a proper death bowling session," Bumrah was as quoted by the PTI in the post-match presentation.

The Details

Bumrah displayed an array of variations in the super over as he hurled down inch-perfect yorkers and slower balls to flummox both Aaron Finch and Brendon McCullum. He was so effective that despite bowling a no-ball and a wide, he only went for 2 runs off the bat in the 8 balls he bowled. 

This was the first time that he was bowling in a super over and he revealed that his skipper, Rohit Sharma backed him to asked him to execute his skills without taking any undue pressure and to treat this particular over as just another 6-over affair. 

In case you didn’t know...

Gujarat Lions won the toss and elected to bat first on a good batting deck in Rajkot, but their batsmen could not get going and were restricted to a manageable 153 by the Mumbai Indians bowlers. 

The visitors got off to a bright start courtesy Parthiv Patel but they kept losing wickets at the other end and their chase ebbed and flowed all through the innings and eventually despite the heroics by Krunal Pandya they could only match the Gujarat score. 

As the match veered into the super over, Mumbai scored 10 runs in their 6 overs and then Jasprit Bumrah took over and stifled Finch and McCullum with his superb death bowling. 

What's next?

Mumbai Indians will next take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore and would want to seal their spot in the playoffs. RCB are having a torrid time this season and although the fickle nature of T20s do not allow any team to take things for granted, Mumbai hold all the aces against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. 

Author’s take

Bumrah’s heroics at the death is a great sign for the Indian team as they build on towards the Champions Trophy and after such a performance his confidence is bound to grow exponentially.