'Midway through the over, Brendon McCullum told me...' - Jasprit Bumrah opens up on outfoxing Kiwi great as a newcomer

India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has shared an anecdote when Brendon McCullum himself admitted that he could not hit him. 

The right-arm pacer was still trying to find his feet at the highest stage of the game when he was given the dreaded task of defending a modest 11 runs in the super over against none other than McCullum and Aaron Finch, two of the best T20 batters of this generation. 

The game Jasprit Bumrah was talking about took place in IPL 2017 when Mumbai Indians faced the now-defunct Gujarat Lions. The teams could not be separated after 40 overs of action as both of them finished their innings on 153. The game was then decided by the super over.

Mumbai Indians could only score 11 runs in 6 balls, thus setting Gujarat Lions a modest target of 12 runs. With Finch and McCullum coming out to bat, it looked like a cakewalk for the Gujarat-based outfit. Gujarat Lions' chances only looked better after Bumrah started with a no-ball and a wide on either side of the first legit delivery.

Gujarat Lions needed only 9 runs from the five balls but Jasprit Bumrah went on to deliver a memorable performance to power Mumbai Indians to a brilliant win. He conceded only two singles on the next five balls as Finch and McCullum just could not deal with the fast bowler.

When Brendon McCullum was outplayed by Jasprit Bumrah:

Jasprit Bumrah recently recalled the game when he completely outplayed McCullum as well as Finch. The India fast-bowler said that during the over, McCullum told him he could not hit him. Bumrah said that he was confident of doing the job for his side right from the start and he did not panic even after making a poor start.

"So at this venue, I had played quite a lot. This is 2017 so I was having a good year and game as well. The ball was reverse-swinging a bit so we felt that if I could execute my yorkers… I had recently developed the slowing-dipping yorker so not many had seen me use it. We thought that if we could do that, it could go well," Bumrah told his wife and sports broadcaster Sanjana Ganesan in a video posted by Jio Cinema

"But initially, the start wasn't well. As you can see, I bowled a no-ball and a wide, but I realised that somehow I was not panicking. I never felt that they were going to hit me. I just fell that if I execute it right, there is no chance they'll hit me.

"Midway through this over, McCullum told me I can't hit you, you are bowling really well. It was an up-and-down game and we were able to pull off a win. So yeah, it was very special," he added.

Bumrah impressed in the ongoing IPL as well. While Mumbai Indians crashed out at the league stage, Bumrah picked up 20 wickets while maintaining an economy rate of less than 7. He will be seen in action next month when India participate in the T20 World Cup.