‘It looked like this pitch was tailor-made for him’ – Irfan Pathan dissects Jasprit Bumrah’s spell in RCB vs MI clash

Irfan Pathan opined that Jasprit Bumrah bowled well, but didn’t look for wickets, which the Mumbai Indians (MI) badly needed against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur on Sunday, May 10.

The five-time champions only posted 166/7 in their 20 overs. Deepak Chahar took two wickets early in the second innings, and Pathan said that Bumrah also needed to make inroads. The former India all-rounder stated that he expected the talismanic seamer to target the stumps and look for wickets.

“Now, when Deepak Chahar picked up two wickets, it felt like Jasprit Bumrah had to come into the game. But Bumrah did not really come back into the contest after that. It looked like this pitch was tailor made for him. It seemed like he would bowl more at the stumps and showcase his ability to get batters out LBW or bowled, but that was not really seen. Bumrah definitely bowled well, but the wickets that were expected from him were missing,” Pathan said in a video on his YouTube channel.

The masterstroke from RCB was promoting Krunal Pandya up the order: Irfan Pathan

Pathan applauded the RCB management for promoting Krunal Pandya to No. 5 in the batting order after losing three wickets inside the power play. The all-rounder scored 73 off 46 balls, showing a great display of grit and determination. Krunal and Jacob Bethell combined to add an important 55-run partnership off 42 balls for the fourth wicket.

“The masterstroke from RCB was promoting Krunal Pandya up the order to number five. During that partnership, it was very clear that Jacob Bethell would play cautiously and focus on rotating the strike, while Krunal Pandya would take the attacking role. The way Krunal batted and attacked was truly praiseworthy because Bengaluru badly needed at least one batter to play with aggression. Had that not happened, things could have become difficult for them. He took his team forward in a very comfortable manner from that point,” Pathan noted.

On the back of Krunal’s match-winning half-century and Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s all-round heroics, RCB chased down the target on the last ball with two wickets to spare.