Jasprit Bumrah was the best bowler against South Africa.
South Africa batters David Miller and Dewald Brevis were ruthless in the middle overs and attacked the spinners straight away to put India under immense pressure in Ahmedabad. They scored as many as 95 runs at a run rate of 10.55 and lost only a solitary wicket between overs 7 and 15.
Hence, India never recovered from the assault, as South Africa went on to post a massive 187 in the first innings and eventually won the contest by 76 runs. Former India batter Mohammad Kaif exclaimed on his YouTube channel that the team missed a trick by not bringing Jasprit Bumrah when Brevis and Miller were going strong.
“There is a big gap between his spells. There is no bigger match-winner in this team than Bumrah. They need to bowl him for just one over in the powerplay, and then get him to bowl the 11th or 12th.”
Bumrah started the innings along with Arshdeep Singh by bowling the second and fourth over before returning in the slog overs, completing his set in the 19th over. He took two wickets with the new ball and proved the decision correct, but India restricted him till the very end before reintroducing him.
While Kaif has made a decent point about not introducing Jasprit Bumrah for a short burst in the middle overs, India were right to give him two overs in the powerplay. After removing Quinton de Kock in his opening over, he looked in good rhythm, and the deck wasn’t as fluent for shot-making initially.
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So, he came for another set and removed Ryan Rickelton to provide India an ideal start. However, Suryakumar Yadav probably became too rigid in his usage and didn’t bring Bumrah to break the Brevis-Miller partnership.
The Proteas were clear with their approach and took Varun Chakravarthy down with smart tactics, while Shivam Dube and Washington Sundar were also largely ineffective. That’s where Jasprit Bumrah could have been used, even if that would have left death overs vulnerable.
Had Bumrah removed one of Brevis and Miller in the middle, India could have used the likes of Varun or Hardik Pandya in the slog to cover that missing over. Still, the move was understandable, for South Africa have a long batting lineup, and India needed more cushion in the death overs against pace-hitters like Tristan Stubbs, Corbin Bosch, and even Marco Jansen.
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