Jasprit Bumrah returned his best figures in an IPL match against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday after being inconsistent in a few matches. Bumrah bought his A game to play and derailed the Rajasthan Royals batting line-up. Mumbai Indians bowling coach Shane Bond said that it was a tactical decision for Bumrah which worked in his favour.
Chasing 194 runs against Mumbai Indians on Tuesday, the Jaipur franchise got off to a poor start as they were reduced to 12/3. Smith was sent back for six runs while Samson was dismissed for nought. However, Buttler stood his ground and played a power-packed but failed to help his side cross the line. Bumrah returned figures of 4/20 in the match which included the wickets of Smith, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer and Shreyas Gopal.
Jasprit Bumrah genuinely wanted to take the new ball: Shane Bond
Bond said that Bumrah genuinely wanted to take the new ball and adapt the aggressive approach. It was also the plan as Mumbai Indians wanted to get rid of the Rajasthan Royals top-order. The former New Zealand fast bowler also mentioned that Bumrah heavily relied on his yorkers as he wanted to use his strength.
“Jasprit genuinely wanted to take the new ball so there was a discussion that went on one day before the game against Royals, we obviously have used him in a defensive manner at the back-end of the powerplay,” said Bond during the post-match press conference.
“It was a fresh wicket and there was grass on it, he has the ability to nip the ball around, we knew Rajasthan’s key players were in the top-order so we wanted to give him an opportunity to get out there, take the new ball and take some wickets for us,” he added.
“Jasprit really wanted to back his yorkers against Royals, he wanted to go back to his strengths and use his bouncer as he normally does”
Bumrah has picked up 93 wickets in the lucrative tournament thus far at an average of 25.58.