'I think it has been a challenge for all the bowlers, coming to play after a break. We are lucky that we had one month here for preparation. Jasprit really wanted to back his yorkers against Royals, he wanted to go back to his strengths and use his bouncer as he normally does. That's Jasprit's strength, if he is not happy with his performances, he tends to bounce back to a new level. I know, traditionally through IPL, Bumrah tends to get better and better.'
After registering an emphatic 57-run win over Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians' bowling coach Shane Bond said that Jasprit Bumrah wanted to take the new ball and back his yorkers in crunch situations.
Chasing 194 for victory, Rajasthan Royals were bundled out for 136, losing the match by 57 runs. Only opener Jos Buttler got going with a knock of 70 runs. Bumrah emerged as a star with the ball for Mumbai as he returned with the figures of 4-20 in his four overs. The pacer took the wickets of Steve Smith, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, and Shreyas Gopal.
The Royals got off to a bad start as they were reduced to 12/3 in the first three overs as Smith (6), Sanju Samson (0), and Yashasvi Jaiswal (0) were sent back to the pavilion.
"You like to throw some different curveballs to the opposition, Bumrah genuinely wanted to take the new ball so there was a discussion that went on one day before the game against Royals,” Bond said during the post-match press conference.
“We obviously have used Bumrah in a defensive manner at the backend of the powerplay. It was a fresh wicket and there was grass on it, he has the ability to nip the ball around. We knew Rajasthan's key players were in the top-order so we wanted to give him an opportunity to get out there, take the new ball and take some wickets for us," said Bond.
"I think it has been a challenge for all the bowlers, coming to play after a break. We are lucky that we had one month here for preparation. Jasprit really wanted to back his yorkers against Royals, he wanted to go back to his strengths and use his bouncer as he normally does. That's Jasprit's strength, if he is not happy with his performances, he tends to bounce back to a new level. I know, traditionally through IPL, Bumrah tends to get better and better," he added.
With this win, Mumbai Indians went to the top of the table with eight points from six games. Talking about this winning momentum, Bond said: "We are as good as any team in this tournament, we have got firepower across the board, if we turn and play our brand of cricket, then we are really tough to beat, we have started to really hit out straps, we are extremely confident that we will be competitive and if we keep playing as we are, I am sure we will be in the playoffs."
When asked what sort of planning was done to tackle the top-order of Royals, the Mumbai Indians bowling coach replied: "We do a lot of work behind the scenes so that we are ready for every opposition. Against the Royals, we knew how dangerous Jos Buttler can be, he got runs against us again, in the powerplay we were exceptional, against Smith we tried to block that scoring zone in the legside and we forced him to play on the offside. Against Sanju, we wanted to use the short ball, we wanted him to play square off the wicket. Trent Boult did a fantastic job, we knew their top four were really dangerous, the guys, in general, bowled really well, to win by more than 50 runs was a great effort by the lads."
Batting first, Mumbai Indians had posted a score of 193/4 as Suryakumar Yadav played an unbeaten knock of 79 runs from 47 balls. Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma also played useful knocks of 30 and 35 respectively.
"Suryakumar Yadav has been frustrated that he has been hitting the ball so well and he has been doing that since the start of the camp, he just was not kicking on, we saw his talent against the Rajasthan Royals, he is a sensational player, he scores all around the ground, he is a fantastic player and a key member of this group. Some of the shots he played were some of the best you will see," Bond said.
