There is little doubt about the capabilities of Jaspreet Bumrah in the previous end of an innings. Seamers of Mumbai Indians have time and again delivery in the last few overs and it is considered to be the best death bowler in the world in limited overs cricket.
In Chinnaswamy on Thursday (March 28th), AB De Villiers threatened to take the match away, Mumbai Indians needed to move Bumrahah and once again produce their best under pressure.
And Bumrah returned again.
Bumrah hit two superb overs which leaked to six runs against AB de Villiers, Shimron Hatimer and Caliber De Bauldhomme's caliber batsmen - all known for their great heating skills.
Bumrah dismissed Hetimar in the 17th over and then dropped four dot balls against D Grandhome. His 19th over was even better.
He not only sent the Kiwi all-rounder back, but also kept the players with a complete variation in the length of the ball with the completion of the ball and the yorker bowled on willpower. He gave only five runs to defend in the last over and left Malinga for 17 runs.
In the end, it turns out to be the difference between the two sides.
Bumrah has a great record in the death overs, where he hits almost every 16th ball (15.41). His economy is 9.24 in 16-20 overs, which is quite decent from T20 standards and his death rate is 29.30%.
However, his head-to-head record against De Villiers and Virat Kohli was quite concrete.
To this game, Bumrah hit 36 deliveries of De Villiers and scored 50 runs with 14 dot balls. But on Thursday, Bumrah scored only four runs on eight balls from De Villiers, out of which four were dots.
Bumrah is a mixed record against Kohli. Indian captain Bumrah was the first IPL victim of 2013. However, post that Bumrah never was able to get Kohli out in the IPL.
In Kohli's 66 balls, he shared a 99-run partnership with Bumrahah's 150-plus strike rate. This is the second best strike rate (after JP Duminy) against Bumrah in IPL.
Kohli was also looking ready to perform better than Bumrah on Thursday, facing 13 balls in front of Simmer's six balls. However, Bumrah was the last laughing captain after the Royal Challengers Bangalore captain and later a belligerent de Villiers.
