Missing a flight a blessing in disguise for Jasprit Bumrah to make his ODI debut
Jasprit Bumrah was able to play in India's fifth ODI thanks to a stroke of bad luck which turned out to be good luck for him. He was going to take a flight to Adelaide with some teammates from the T20 team. The Indian board could not manage to find a seat for him in the flight though. Rather than risk missing the match, Bumrah headed to Sydney a day ahead of India's fifth ODI. He was then set to travel with the T20 teammates who are also in the ODI squad.
Bumrah was set to be a spectator for the ODI match. He would have remained one had Bhuvanesh Kumar not sustained a fracture on his left hand. After he was deemed unfit, most assumed that Barinder Sran would have been chosen in his stead. However, MS Dhoni opted to go with Jaspreet Bumrah, a player whose name was not in the ODI team.
For Bumrah it was going to be a dream come true to make his debut in T20 in Adelaide. But his dream came true a little earlier than he anticipated as he got an opportunity to play for India in the ODI in Sydney.
He was handed an opportunity unexpectedly, and he made the most of it. He bowled 10 overs and limited the runs allowed to just 40. He had the most efficient bowlnig spell for India with three of the Indian bowlers allowing more than seven runs per over.
He also took two wickets in the match. Steve Smith was caught by Rohit Sharma on his delivery. He also took James Faulkner's wicket on a near perfect yorker in the 49th over. He bowled a total of 11 yorkers.
Bumrah also came through when pressure was mounting. He allowed just 3 runs in the 49th over to prevent Australia from running up the score.
Bumrah's strong performance in domestic championships paved the way for his national appearances. He managed to take 64 wickets in 18 first class games, maintaining an average of 25.01.
His career suffered a minor setback as he suffered a knee injury. It took him almost five months to recover from that. In the 2015 season he made a strong showing in the eight Ranji Matches he played by taking 21 wickets. For the most part though, the 21 wickets he took in just 9 matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy was what made the selectors stand up and take notice. He shone in the finals as he took 5 wickets while allowing 28 runs against Delhi.
It is safe to assume that he will have a prominent role to play in the upcoming T20 series.