The Mumbai Indians (MI) managed to brush aside the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by three runs in a humdinger at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Both sides were in contention for a victory for a chunk of the match as the encounter went right down to the wire. However, Rohit Sharma’s men managed to hold their nerves and emerged triumphant despite a masterful knock of 94 by KL Rahul.
MI found themselves in a precarious position as Punjab needed 38 runs off the last four overs with nine wickets remaining. Jasprit Bumrah had other ideas and he came back for his final spell to rip the heart out of KXIP’s batting. He dismissed Aaron Finch and Marcus Stoinis in the same over, which put the skids under the visiting team. More importantly, he conceded only a couple of runs in the seventeenth over.
“He’s doing it perfectly”- Rohit on Jasprit Bumrah
In his last over, he nipped out the prized scalp of KL Rahul to eventually pull the curtains down on the nail-biter. Thereafter, he was duly crowned as the Player of the Match. Following his stupendous exhibition of bowling, Rohit praised him for the hard work. The 31-year old batsman also hailed him for filling in the shoes of Lasith Malinga who had been phenomenal for them in the past, especially in the death overs.
“I think Bumrah has come a long way in the past two years, worked really hard on his bowling. Coming out there and bowling at set batsmen who are trying to finish the job – he’s doing it perfectly for us,” The Mumbai skipper was quoted as saying in India TV.
“He’s worked really hard on his bowling. Not easy to come out and bowl the way he does. He’s the one who’s taken the responsibility. Always Malinga will be missed, but since he’s gone, we’ve known Bumrah is the one to take the charge. He might not be up there in the wickets column, but what he does for us is very very important,” Rohit added.
