Stunned by Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya’s tactics in the record-breaking IPL loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad, former Australia captain Steve Smith has said he cannot fathom why Prime Minister Jasprit Bumrah bowled just six deliveries till the 13th. about the match. In a stunning display of power-hitting, Sunrisers Hyderabad posted their highest ever IPL total of 277/3 before completing a 31-run win over an equally aggressive Mumbai Indians on Wednesday evening. Bumrah was the second most economical bowler in the match after SRH captain Pat Cummins (2/35), who conceded 36 runs in his four overs, failing to produce a single wicket.
“I was perplexed by some of their bowling changes in the first innings for Mumbai. Bumrah bowled in the fourth over, he went for 5 and then we didn’t see him again until the 13th over when they were on 173,” Smith said. host broadcaster ‘Star Sports’.
“All the damage had already been done, you needed your best bowler to come back and take some wickets in that period and I think they missed a stroke there and he didn’t come back until the 13th over,” he noted.
“I think he did a few things wrong, and that was the biggest thing for me. I mean, you can’t have one of the best bowlers in the world knocking one over.” Smith said Bumrah’s late reintroduction into the attack made him ineffective.
“When the ball is going around like that, you just have to get your best bowler back earlier than you would have liked. It’s about adapting along the way and I would have almost bowled Bumrah out in the 15th, 16th over, try to get some wickets, if he gets wickets, you still slow down the speed.
“If the guy is batting at the end, it doesn’t matter who is bowling. We really saw that with Bumrah in the last two overs and he was still getting hit with the bat on the back end,” explained he out.
“So if he had come back earlier and taken some risks, things would have been very different and they would have gotten 277 and they could have been taken down to 240 and maybe chased that down, so I was just perplexed that he only threw one over .until the 13th is over.” Smith said it’s difficult to make sense of the power-hitting contest the game turned out to be.
“…38 sixes in total, the ball was going all over the place. It was an incredible match.
Another former cricketer Brian Lara praised SRH’s Abhishek Sharma, who hit a 23-ball 63.
“Abhishek Sharma is one of my favorite young batters… He can hit, he’s not a big, muscular guy, but when he hits the ball he stays hit. I think he had a special punch today,” he said.
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