Shoaib Akhtar Identifies India's 'X-Factor' After Clean Sweep

The Rawalpindi Express, Shoaib Akhtar has identified India’s greatest asset. The former Pakistan pace spearhead has picked another swing bowler who has been India’s greatest asset in recent times for the Indian National Cricket Team. Shoaib has credited Jasprit Bumrah to be India’s ‘X-Factor’ in international games. Bumrah won the man of the match award in the final game of the recently concluded India-New Zealand T20I series.

His performance helped India in making history. India became the first team to clean sweep a five-game T20I series 5-0. India seemed out of contention to win the game when the game had approached halfway line as Shivam Dube conceded 34 runs in the 10th over and India’s hopes faded away. However, Bumrah is not the one who gives up the fighting spirit and his tight bowling helped India eject itself from a tight situation. Bumrah clinched three crucial wickets for India and gave away only 12 runs in his four overs. Eventually, this turned out to be a match-winning performance.

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Shoaib Akhtar Lauds Jasprit Bumrah

Shoaib Akhtar is immensely impressed by Bumrah’s bowling antics. Speaking on his YouTube channel after the fifth T20I, Akhtar said, “Bumrah is a class act. It took him 2-3 matches to come back to full rhythm. Some bowlers take their time when they come out from injuries. He took a couple of series but today he looked a class apart. 3 for 12 was just superb. Bumrah won’t let you score 25-30 runs in the death overs. Saini and Shardul were good too but I think Bumrah is the X-factor of the Indian side.”

India went into the fifth T20I without their regular captain Virat Kohli. Having put up a challenging total on the board, India were in all sorts of worry as Rohit Sharma was also off the field and KL Rahul acted as a temporary captain in the second innings. His decision to give Shivam Dube the 10th over proved to be costly as Dube bowled the second most expensive over in T20Is giving away 34 runs in the over. Then came the pace trio of Jssprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, and Shardul Thakur and they rattled the New Zealand batting line up.

Meanwhile, India clinched a fifth straight victory against New Zealand in the T20I series. Batting first, India put up a total of 163 runs on the board for the loss of three wickets. Rohit Sharma contributed 60* runs with the bat. Chasing the target, the Kiwis could only manage 156 runs and lost nine wickets in their 20 overs. It was India’s landmark victory as it helped them become the first-ever team to clean sweep a T20I series 5-0.

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