Even the finest falter sometimes, and on Friday night at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Jasprit Bumrah had one of those rare off days. Tasked with defending a modest total of 125 in the second T20I, India’s pace spearhead fought hard but couldn’t conjure the magic he’s so often relied upon to script improbable wins.
Bumrah bowled his full quota of four overs, finishing with respectable figures of 2 for 26, yet his normally impeccable rhythm wavered at key moments. His slightly inconsistent lengths drew scrutiny from former India batter Robin Uthappa, who believed that the champion pacer’s desperation to make early inroads had disrupted his usual precision.
“When we were bowling after scoring 125, the start was very important. If we had picked up two or three wickets in the first three or four overs, the game could have been closer because we have quality spinners in the middle overs. I felt we were probably trying too hard to pick up wickets. So we got a little wayward,” Uthappa said on Star Sports.
Reflecting on Bumrah’s approach, he added, “I have observed that whenever Bumrah gets desperate to pick up wickets, he becomes slightly wayward, and when he is disciplined and hits a good line and length, he mostly picks up wickets. Australia took full advantage of that waywardness at the start, the way we started with the ball in the second innings.”
The 2007 World T20-winning also didn’t shy away from criticising India’s batting performance – apart from Abhishek Sharma’s fighting half-century and a spirited cameo from Harshit Rana.
“Slightly disappointing, because you had obviously lost the toss, but the batters could have given themselves a little time. They chose the aggressive batting option and they lost too many wickets in the first six overs because of that,” Uthappa remarked.
“Abhishek had to manage the innings after six overs. He had a good partnership with Harshit, but apart from that partnership, no batter stood with him, so that India could have scored at least 150. This team will get a lot of learning from this. This young team will have to understand that there is a slight extra bounce here and they will have to adjust their game plans accordingly,” he added.