Mumbai: The last time India and New Zealand had met before Sunday’s final, Finn Allen and Daryll Mitchell had gone after Jasprit Bumrah to hand the ace pacer his most expensive figures of 0/58 in T20Is. Played at Thiruvananthapuram on January 31, it was the fifth T20I game of the preparatory series for the T20 World Cup. The pitch was a belter where India amassed 271 and New Zealand replied with 225. Even though New Zealand lost, it was a big boost for the Kiwis to successfully target Bumrah, who ended up being the most expensive Indian bowler conceding runs at 14.50.
In Sunday’s final, played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Motera, the pitch was again a belter and India posted a mammoth 255/5. It was a massive chase but the Kiwis would have fancied their chances against Bumrah & Co.
Bumrah, the smart operator that he is, put the rare off day well behind him and came into the world cup a transformed bowler, leading the Indian attack with aplomb, producing match-winning bursts match after match.
On Sunday, he gave the New Zealanders no chance at all, returning career-best T20I figures of 4/15 bundling them out for 159 to seal a 96-run win and help India defend their T20 World Cup title.
It took Bumrah’s tournament tally to 14 wickets, putting him joint-top of the bowling charts alongside teammate Varun Chakravarthy.
The legendary pacer also became the highest wicket-taker among pacers in T20 World Cup history, with a tally of 40 wickets, surpassing Lasith Malinga’s 38.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav paid rich tributes to his bowling spearhead. “Bumrah is a once-in-a-generation bowler. I can call him a national treasure. He knows how it needs to be done, he is the best in the business,” said Yadav during his post-match interview with the official broadcaster.
The World Cup win at his homeground helped bury the ghosts of the 2023 ODI World Cup final defeat. “It feels extremely special because I played one final at my home venue and couldn’t win that one,” Bumrah said after being named the Player of the final. “But this one feels really special. I was really motivated, I was really clear, I knew what I wanted to do,” said Bumrah in his post-match interview.
“The wicket was a flat one, so I played all my cricket here, so I used all my experience. Today was a wonderful day when all the execution went as per plan. So yeah, really happy, really grateful, God is really kind,” said Bumrah.
The talismanic bowler had also played a key role in India’s semi-final win over England. Chasing a target of 254, England had extremely well to bring the chase down to 69 off the last five overs when the India captain turned to his main bowler. India’s smiling assassin delivered twelve balls of pin-point death-over precision. He bowled the 16th over for only eight runs and the 18th for six runs to tilt the game decisively in India’s favour.
In the final he was in inspired form and made it a memorable experience for his home crowd. Brought in to bowl the fourth over of the innings, Bumrah started in a similar style to the semifinal and bowled a slower cutter with his first ball and had Rachin Ravindra holing out for 1, just like he had got England’s captain Harry Brook at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday. He bowled an excellent sixth over as well for figures of two overs for nine runs and one wicket in the powerplay.
Later when he was brought in to bowl the 16th over, Bumrah bamboozled James Neesham and Matt Henry with back to back slower, dipping deliveries to be on a hat-trick. Next over, he produced another special delivery, a yorker-length off-cutter to hit the base of skipper Mitchell Santner’s delivery.
Talking about the art of bowling, and how he plans his delivery, Bumrah said: “Because I’ve played on belters over here, I have also seen the other team, how they were bowling… I have learnt over here when you are trying to bowl too fast, it gets easier. Shot making gets easier, sometimes the ball skids on (to the bat), so keep being smart, keep changing your pace and expect what the batsman is trying to do. So all of these things really help you and clarity while execution also helps.”
Bumrah has consistently produced such excellent performances on the big stage. During India’s successful run in the 2024 T20 World Cup as well, Bumrah was the Player of the tournament. At the team’s felicitation at the Wankhede Stadium, Virat Kohli had summed up the value of the player: “You know what I’d like everyone to do is applaud a guy who brought us back into games again and again and again in this tournament. What he did in those last five overs, bowling two out of the last five overs, it was phenomenal. A huge round of applause for Jasprit Bumrah, please.”
Two years later, India’s leading pacer had the same impact, contributing to another title win for the team.
