Jasprit Bumrah has been one of the bowlers every batsman secretly dreads playing. The Mumbai Indians bowler dismantled the batting order of the Royal Challengers Bangalore by picking his second five-wicket haul of IPL on Thursday. En route to this stellar achievement, he also got the better of Virat Kohli for the fifth time in 16 innings. Not only did Bumrah register himself as the fourth man to have more than one 5fers, but he also became the first bowler to pick one against the RCB in the IPL. While every bowler was taken to the cleaners from both ends, the MI bowler flaunted himself as the most economical bowler as well. Bumrah was announced as the player of the match for only giving 21 runs in a match witnessing 395 runs scored combined by both teams.

Although the fiery pacer produced a masterclass with his spell, the RCB were able to post 196 runs on the board. However, scintillating knocks from Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav helped MI chase the target with 21 balls to spare. Talking about his impressive bowling, Bumrah mentioned the toil involved in fast bowling and how he refrained from being a one-trick pony. “In this format, it is very harsh for the bowlers. I try to not be a one-trick pony, I have worked on this early in my career,” Jasprit Bumrah said, sharing pearls of wisdom to young bowlers.

“People start to line you up. I want to have different skills. Bowling is tough, because you will have to take a beating. When things have not worked out for me the next day, I see the videos and analyse what did not work. The right-hander stressed on the importance of mixing up and keeping every type of delivery on the cards.

“Preparation is always the key. Important to keep pushing yourself before a game. It is not a one-trick pony. You don’t always have to bowl a yorker, sometimes you bowl a yorker, a short ball. There is no ego in this format. You can bowl 145 kph, but sometimes it is important to bowl slower balls,” Bumrah said, highlighting his ability to bowl a wide array of different deliveries.

Topping the purple cap list

Jasprit Bumrah was down at no.17 before his clash against the Royal Challengers Bangalore before he blistered the RCB batting order to jump to no.1 in the list. Although the MI bowler equalled Yuzvendra Chahal’s 10 wickets on the table, his exceptional economy of 5.95 got him past the leg-spinner and into the quest of Purple Cap.