Bumrah pinpoints key moments in triumph over Pakistan
Match-winning bowler Jasprit Bumrah captures the emotion of India's heart-stopping New York win, as the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium played host to another thrilling chapter in the rivalry between India and Pakistan.
A jubilant Jasprit Bumrah has singled out two key moments of his bowling performance that helped India's awe-inspiring comeback win over Pakistan in their ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 meeting at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium.
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Bumrah finished with figures of 3/14 from his four overs, bowling 15 dot balls as Pakistan capitulated in their chase of 120, finishing on the wrong end of a six-run defeat.
Having performed in favourable conditions for bowling themselves, Pakistan's circumspect reply looked to be setting them on a course for victory, with the opening partnership of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan moving to 26 for no loss in the fifth over of their innings.
Bumrah first claimed the all important wicket of Babar for 13, edging to Suryakumar Yadav, a signal to the Pakistan camp that the chase was perhaps more difficult than first thought. Rizwan meanwhile toiled, moving into the thirties in spite of losing Usman Khan and Fakhar Zaman at the other end.
Rizwan looked at one stage set to bring Pakistan home almost on his own bat, with the side needing 40 runs off just 36 balls, and with seven wickets in hand in their pursuit of 120.
Bumrah was redeployed in what looked to be India's last hope, and the result was immediate. His first delivery back fired underneath Rizwan's bat to make a mess of the stumps, sparking India's charge to a come-from-behind win.
In front of the press after a famous victory where the bowlers claimed headlines, Bumrah reflected on the two dismissals as key.
"I think the first wicket was very important as well to set the base because then you start adding pressure," Bumrah began, reflecting on his impact on the result.
"If they get off to a good start on this wicket, because we didn't have a lot of runs on the board, then the pressure keeps on rising on us.
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"And then that third over of mine, that was a crucial stage of that situation, the game would have been over if that would have gone Pakistan's favour.
"So that was also a crucial stage. Everybody came in and they were trying to execute what they wanted to, and they were able to do that. I think all of it's a combination of all those things that really helped us."
Bumrah went on to also claim the wicket of Iftikhar Ahmed, before Arshdeep Singh closed out the win with a calm final over, taking the wicket of Imad Wasim and holding off a late challenge from Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi.
The win puts India top of Group A, holding the Net Run Rate tiebreaker over fellow undefeated team USA, who shocked Pakistan in Dallas on June 6. Pakistan meanwhile remain winless and would likely need big victories over Canada and Ireland, among other results in the group going their way to progress to the next round of the competition.
Bumrah paid tribute to the fellow members of the bowling unit, with no weak link giving their opposition a chance to wriggle out of trouble.
"We as a bowling unit take a lot of pride in our bowling and we work very hard to develop more skills and try to help the team as much as we can. So we're very happy that we were able to do it in this game," he added.
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"We as a unit are very calm and very clear on what we want. We were able to contribute and create that pressure and then we were able to get the win.
"Not at any stage did I feel that the panic had spread in the team, (or) we were looking too far ahead so that's a really positive sign for us."