"The season has not been good" - Aakash Chopra lauds Jasprit Bumrah's match-winning spell for MI vs DC in IPL 2022
Aakash Chopra picked Jasprit Bumrah's spell as a game-defining performance in the Mumbai Indians' (MI) win over the Delhi Capitals (DC) in Saturday's (May 21) IPL 2022 encounter.
Bumrah registered figures of 3/25 in his four-over spell as the Mumbai Indians restricted the Capitals to a score of 159/7. The five-time champions then chased down the target with five wickets and as many deliveries to spare to end their campaign on a winning note.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra chose Bumrah as the star performer for MI against DC while pointing out that the speedster has not had a great IPL 2022. He elaborated:
"The guy's name is Jasprit Bumrah, what a guy he is. The season has not been good. You have not got the number of wickets that you expected. It could have been for multiple reasons, the other bowlers are not that great, the team is not doing well, he has bowled at different stages, has got the new ball in his hand very few times."
The former Indian batter added that Bumrah was primarily responsible for MI restricting the Capitals to a chasable score. Chopra observed:
"But in the end, Bumrah showed his class while leaving. The opposition team was restricted to 159 runs, 175-180 runs should have been scored but they were not scored because of Bumrah."
Bumrah scalped 15 wickets in IPL 2022, with 5/10 being his best effort. However, 10 of those scalps have come in the last four matches and he managed just five wickets in the first 10 encounters.
"It was the bouncer of the season" - Aakash Chopra on Jasprit Bumrah's dismissal of Prithvi Shaw
Chopra was particularly appreciative of the bouncer Bumrah bowled to get rid of Prithvi Shaw, saying:
"The bouncer he bowled to Prithvi Shaw, made Prithvi unstable. It was such an amazing bouncer, it was the bouncer of the season. He dismissed the guy by felling him, it was incredible."
The reputed commentator concluded by observing that Bumrah accounted for some of the most dangerous Delhi Capitals batters. Chopra explained:
"The way he dismissed Mitchell Marsh, got the outside edge, that was beautiful. And that's not where he actually ended, he ended up with three wickets, he hit Rovman Powell's stumps. I mean Rovman Powell scored runs, Mitchell Marsh was a big threat and then Prithvi Shaw. If we see these three wickets, incredible Jasprit Bumrah, well done."
Jasprit Bumrah gave the Mumbai Indians the early advantage by dismissing Mitchell Marsh and Prithvi Shaw in the powerplay overs after Daniel Sams had already accounted for David Warner.
The unconventional pacer returned at the death to get the better of Rovman Powell, just when the big-hitting Jamaican seemed all set to take the Delhi Capitals to a formidable score.