Following his stunning four-wicket haul in India’s 100-run triumph over England in Lucknow on October 29, ace bowler Jasprit Bumrah lauded colleague Mohammed Shami as a sporting great.
Bumrah and Shami took seven of the ten wickets that fell, including the first four, to upset England’s top order. Despite warming the bench in the first four games, Shami wreaked havoc in the last two, taking five and four wickets against New Zealand and England, respectively.
Bumrah praised Shami’s calm temperament after the game, telling Sky Sports that he enjoys bowling alongside him.
“He is outstanding,” Bumrah said. “He’s, you know, one of the legends of the game. I feel he has always been quite calm. He doesn’t come out to be flamboyant, but he way he was bowling as if he was playing a Test match and [it] was really, really wonderful to see.
“Usually we’ve had a lot of partnerships in Test-match cricket and I really enjoy bowling with him. So yeah, I’m really happy with the way he’s going on.”
Jasprit Bumrah
It was Mohammed Shami’s third instance of picking four or more wickets in his last four ODIs, going back to the Australia series before the World Cup. The 33-year-old has impressive statistics with 180 wickets in 96 ODIs at a mean of 24.65. The mean significantly changes in World Cups, with a 14.07 mean in 13 matches.
“Heard a lot of question marks on my career that I will never come back” – Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah acknowledged being aware of the rumors about injuries ending his career, but he disregarded them as unimportant. Due to a stress fracture in his back, the 29-year-old missed a year of play, including the T20 World Cup last year and the IPL this year.
However, upon his comeback, the champion bowler struck the ground running, earning Player of the Series in the Ireland T20I series in August.
“My wife [the TV sports presenter Sanjana Ganesan] also works in the sports-media department,” Bumrah said. “So yeah, I heard a lot of question marks on my career that I will never come back and all of that, but it doesn’t really matter.”
“I’m very happy,” he continued. “I came back and I realised how much I love playing the game. I was not chasing anything. Great headspace was there when I came back from the injury. So yeah, eventually I’m looking at the positives and trying to enjoy as much as you can.”
Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah is the joint second player with the second-most wickets of the World Cup with 14 scalps in six games at an average of 15.07 and a miserly economy of under four per over. Meanwhile, Team India is almost through to the semi-final unless something unexpected happens, with their sixth win in as many games. They will take on Sri Lanka in a rematch of the 2011 World Cup final at Wankhede on Thursday, November 2.