Arguably one of the best death-over specialists, Jasprit Bumrah’s involvement in Mumbai’s second Indian T20 League game against Bengaluru at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru was thrown into massive disarray following his shoulder injury against Delhi.
As it turned out though, despite missing the usual flight to the Garden City, he was spotted training in Bengaluru during their practice session. Along with Hardik Pandya, Ben Cutting, Mitchell McClenaghan and Rasikh Salam, the pacer from Ahmedabad trained for a while, leading to the suggestions that he might have a role to play in the game.
Mumbai against Bengaluru, especially at the Chinnaswamy, has always been a partial affair, with the former winning seven out of nine encounters. Even the head-to-head underpin the supremacy of three-time title holder. Since the league’s inception, these two sides have clashed 23 times, with Mumbai winning 14, while Bengaluru winning the remaining nine.
Over the years though, the baton, at least for Mumbai, has moved from their skipper Rohit Sharma to a certain Jasprit Bumrah. The 25-year-old has time and again proved out to be a figurehead of this Mumbai unit and so has Bengaluru captain, Virat Kohli. The opening fixture of the season, however, saw neither of them asserting any kind of authority. While Bumrah ended his game with the figures of 40 for one in his four overs against Delhi, Kohli scored mere six runs against Chennai.
The two, arguably the best in their departments, will face off against each other tonight (March 29), leading us to question; who will win this battle?
A look at the stats and it’s no surprise that Kohli means doom for Bumrah. Since the latter’s debut in the Indian T20 League (in 2013), the Indian captain has amazed 99 runs in just 66 balls, registering a strike rate of 150.00; second best to JP Duminy’s 212.12 against the pacer. The irony, however, lies in the fact that Bumrah’s first wicket (in the league) was Kohli, and the batsman has been unbeaten since.
Considering the threat Bumrah carries, Bengaluru came with a perfect blueprint ahead of the game. They call out an unknown equity Mahesh Kumar – who over years has moulded his action to that of Bumrah’s – for the nets. Ashish Nehra spotted Kumar, who used to play for Karnataka U-19, and was majorly used for the batsmen who have the least experience of facing Bumrah.
It remains to be seen if the Bengaluru batsmen can negotiate Bumrah this time around. That’s, if he plays.
