India vs England: Jasprit Bumrah’s mental toughness makes him a crisis man for Virat Kohli
Flashback to 23 March 2016: It’s a virtual do-or-die match for India as they face Bangladesh in the World T20 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. Bangladesh are chasing a mediocre 147. Opener Tamim Iqbal flicks the first ball of the innings from Ashish Nehra to fine leg. Jasprit Bumrah moves gingerly and lets it through his fingers and into the fence. Not the start you would want.
Ten months later, that mental strength was again on display as he helped India pull off a heist by defending eight runs off the last over in Nagpur against England in the must-win second T20I.
Dhoni brings him back in the 17th over with 34 runs needed off 24 balls, Bumrah’s figures reading 2-0-19-0. He gives away just seven runs. The choke is applied, and pressure is built. He comes back for his last over with 17 runs needed off 12 balls and concedes just six. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s ‘Usain Bolt’ sprint to run out Mustafizur Rahman, off the last ball, wins the match for India. Bumrah doesn’t concede a single boundary in his last two overs and that, in all probability, is the turning point, which, however, flies under the radar.
Four overs later, Tamim top edges a slog sweep off Ashwin. Bumrah, with all the time in the world to gobble it up, spills a dolly. He doesn’t react, he just stares, looking totally blank. Then he comes on to bowl the next over and his confidence takes another beating as the man he had dropped hammers him for four fours in the over. “It’s just not going to be my day,” Bumrah would surely have thought, you feel. But in reality, it is not the case. Bumrah only looks at the good times, filtering out the bad ones. What has happened has happened, it’s a thing of the past – that’s what he believes in.
Two mistakes at the start in a high voltage clash might not just have dented but battered a 22-year-old’s confidence. But that comeback from Bumrah was a manifestation of his tremendous mental strength.
