Inspired Bumrah blocks embarrassment out of his mind
From the outset, Jasprit Bumrah was the loneliest man in a packed Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. There was no one else who could have pulled Bumrah out of the pressure he was under but himself. Many don't even get a chance to redeem themselves, and to do so in the same game.
He fumbled the first ball of Bangladesh's chase that came to him at third man which rolled over the boundary. The fifth over brought another critical moment when Tamim Iqbal miscued Ravichandran Ashwin only for Bumrah to drop a sitter at short fine leg. He was on 15 off 20 at the time. The next over, the last of the Powerplay, was handed to Bumrah. Tamim took him for four fours and Bangladesh were away.
Bangladesh's charge and the seamers going for runs meant India's bowling plans had to be constantly altered, which forced MS Dhoni to keep going to his two main spin bowlers, which meant having to let go of their assurance in the final overs.
It was only during then that Ashwin himself put down a catch off Shakib Al Hasan in the deep, and yet had the clarity within to come back from it. His final over, the 13th of the Bangladesh innings saw him remove Shakib off the first ball with a classical off-spinner. The next four deliveries had Soumya Sarkar at sea. Ashwin's returns were game-changing in this context, but it also meant Dhoni didn't have the liberty to call on his top bowler if he needed to.
In the game against New Zealand, Bumrah had displayed the potential that had led to his surprise selection for the ODI tour of Australia in January. Five out of six deliveries he bowled in the 16th over were yorkers, including Corey Anderson's wicket. And yet against Pakistan he was taken for runs. It's sport after all.
Dhoni had no option but to toss the ball back to Bumrah when Bangladesh needed 35 from four overs. Soumya Sarkar and Mahmudullah had to contend with a barrage of yorkers that followed. Seven runs were all they could manage as the two batsmen could only dig them out from their toes.
Ashish Nehra's following over eased the pressure as Sarkar and Mahmudullah took him for two boundaries, but Sarkar's dismissal brought two right-handers in the middle, and Bumrah his shot at redemption. Every ball was fired in with the same intensity as the batsmen could only squeeze them out or pinch one from each delivery.
The astonishing scenes at the Chinnaswamy and Hardik Pandya's final over wouldn't have even happened if not for Bumrah giving away six in the previous over, which meant Bangladesh needed 11 from the final six. Nine were taken from the first three, and on another day, that may have been enough.
"He had put down a catch, he was two overs for 22, he was down, but Bumrah came back for us," said Ashwin, summing up what his colleague went through in the initial overs of Bangladesh's run chase, after India were restricted to 146.
For all his fumbling and bundle of nerves at the start, Bumrah blocked it out for those two overs he had to bowl, just like what the Bangladesh batsmen had to contend with. He didn't get any wickets, but it will certainly go down as his favourite wicket-less bowling spell.
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