Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav has defended his star pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who didn’t have a great outing in the recent Asia Cup clash against Pakistan. Bumrah, who is unplayable most of the time, was taken down by the Pakistani batters. They intentionally targeted him, and Bumrah looked off-colour as well; that saw Pakistan gain an upper hand. Having said that, Suryakumar talked sense post-match and claimed that Sunday’s clash showed that Bumrah isn’t a robot and he can have bad days too.
Off-colour Bumrah vs Pakistan
India opted to bowl first in their Super Fours clash against Pakistan on September 21. While Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman started well, India had butterfingers as they spilled quite a few chances on the field. Shubman Gill also dropped a catch off Bumrah’s delivery. Had he taken the catch, Bumrah’s figures of 0/45 would’ve looked much better. Despite this, Pakistan had the upper hand on Bumrah right from the start.
Fakhar took charge in his first over, smashing a couple of boundaries. Then, Bumrah bowled a no-ball in the next over before Suryakumar gave Bumrah a third over within the powerplay. It was a bit surprising, but Pakistan got away as Farhan kept slogging anything that came in his arc. Bumrah leaked 34 runs in his first three overs, a sight that is not familiar to the Indian fans. After all, he is a bowler who just normally dominates each and every game.
In the post-match show, the Indian captain gave his support to his star player, stating that it is fine for Bumrah to have his bad days. Speaking to Urooj Mumtaz after the match, Suryakumar said:
“That’s fine, he’s not a robot, he will have a bad day someday (talking about Bumrah). Dube bailed us out of the situation.”
Pakistan got Dube’d
With Bumrah struggling to make an impact, Shivam Dube stepped up and delivered the breakthrough India needed. Using slower balls and a scrambled seam, the all-rounder removed the well-set Sahibzada Farhan (58) and Saim Ayub (21), a spell that completely shifted the course of the contest.
Dube’s spell of 2/33 not only broke Pakistan’s rhythm but also stalled their scoring in the middle overs. Despite a late flourish from Faheem Ashraf, Pakistan posted 171/5, their highest total against India in T20Is while batting first. India’s reply was headed by Abhishek Sharma’s dominating 74 and Shubman Gill’s solid 47. Their opening stand of 105 runs in 59 deliveries completely pushed Pakistan out of the game and kept India’s unbeaten streak going in the tournament.
There’s no doubt that the Asia Cup 2025 hasn’t been a great one for Bumrah as of yet. However, his quality shouldn’t be questioned. It is the fact that Bumrah has operated at such high level for so many years that even two back-to-back underperformances make it quite unusual for fans. Never forget, that he is the same guy who took 15 wickets at an insane economy of 4.18 and a bowling strike rate of 11.00 in the last year’s T20 World Cup.
