Aakash Chopra highlighted Jasprit Bumrah’s struggles with the ball during the Mumbai Indians’ clash against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhed Stadium on Wednesday, April 29.
Sunrisers Hyderabad chased down a 244-run target in 18.4 overs with six wickets to spare. Bumrah conceded 54 runs in his four-over spell and failed to pick up a wicket. Chopra noted that the talismanic seamer conceded at least one six in each of his four overs.
“Bumrah got hit for five sixes. There wasn’t an over where he wasn’t hit for a six. He conceded more than 50 runs. We call him the cheat code. We say he converts a 20-over match into a 16-over one. When you have 243 runs, you feel Bumrah would save them, but the opposing team chased it in 18.4 overs,” he said in a video on his YouTube channel.
Chopra pointed out that Bumrah is bowling too many slower deliveries and not backing his bouncers and yorkers as much.
“Salil Arora also hit a six, and Heinrich Klaasen hit a six over cover. Whoever was coming was hitting. Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma also hit sixes. Bumrah bowled only one ball above 140 clicks. This is slightly mind-numbing as to what is happening. He is bowling a lot of slower ones. There wasn’t any sharp bouncer or yorker,” Chopra observed.
It has been a tough campaign so far for Bumrah. The 32-year-old has only picked up two wickets in eight matches and is averaging 132.
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Chopra opined that Hardik Pandya had given his Afghan spinner AM Ghazanfar the wrong field when he was bowling to Heinrich Klaasen. The 48-year-old also mentioned that Ghazanfar should have been brought into the attack after the ball had been changed because it got too wet.
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“Ghazanfar bowled well. I feel a trick was missed. When he picked up two wickets, Heinrich Klaasen came and played big shots against him. I felt the midwicket shouldn’t have been in the circle, there should have been a short fine leg, because he got hit for a four and a six there,” Chopra said.
“However, as soon as the ball was changed, as it had gotten very wet, that over should have been given to Allah Ghazanfar, but you didn’t. I thought that was a tactical error. You could have probably looked for a wicket there. That was a mistake for sure,” he added.
