Ahead of the IND vs ENG T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has shared advice on how India and Suryakumar Yadav should use Jasprit Bumrah in the match.
Jasprit Bumrah has been one of India’s best bowlers in this tournament. His stats may not fully show his impact, but he has played an important role. In six matches, he has taken nine wickets and has an economy rate of 6.30, which is very good.
In the previous match against West Indies, Bumrah took two wickets in one over. Shimron Hetmyer and Roston Chase were building a strong partnership at that time, and his breakthroughs helped India keep West Indies below 200 runs.
Speaking at a media interaction ahead of the DP World Celebrity Golf Event, Sunil Gavaskar said that Bumrah should bowl two overs in the powerplay. In the last match, India started with Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya, while Bumrah bowled only one over in the powerplay.
According to Gavaskar, if Bumrah bowls two overs early and challenges England’s top order, including Phil Salt, Jos Buttler, and Harry Brook, it could help India. He also pointed out that when Bumrah comes on to bowl later, the batters are usually settled and have already faced several deliveries.
“I do believe that he should be bowling at least two overs in the powerplay. Because as a new ball bowler with a brand new ball, if he can get those two wickets, if he can get Jos Buttler, Phil Salt and Harry Brook, he will have pretty much broken the back of the England batting. So him coming in to bowl the fifth over and four overs have already been bowled and the batters have got about 20 deliveries, which means that both batters have got about 8-10 deliveries to settle in,” Sunil Gavaskar said.
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Jasprit Bumrah has taken nine wickets in the five T20Is against England so far. With Jos Buttler not in good form, it could be a smart move to use your best bowler against him early and not allow him to settle at the crease.
Other than the Super 8 match against Zimbabwe, where he went wicketless, he has taken at least one wicket in every other match.
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