New Delhi [India], August 3 (ANI): Former India coach and all-rounder Ravi Shastri put Jasprit Bumrah’s game-changing spells against arch-rivals Pakistan in the group stage and South Africa in the final of the ICC T20 World Cup as some of his favourite moments of the tournament.
Shastri followed the tournament closely as a commentator and listed his standout moments from the T20 World Cup that saw India defeat South Africa by just seven runs in a thrilling final in Barbados.
When asked by host Sanjana Ganesan on the latest episode of The ICC Review to pick his favourite match from the event, the 62-year-old selected the Group A encounter between India and Pakistan in New York while the T20 World Cup final also received a special mention.
India fought back with the ball against Pakistan in an engaging contest after they were reduced to 119, and eventually took the game by six runs.
“I think India-Pakistan because India was made to fight there and realise what the right combination should be going forward in the tournament. That and then of course the final, those final five overs [from the T20 World Cup final],” Shastri said.
The two games also featured in Shastri’s favourite moments from the tournament.
In the group encounter, Pakistan were comfortably placed at 80/3 with a set Mohammad Rizwan standing in India’s way. But pacer Bumrah, who had been held back for the death overs struck back, bowling Rizwan and shifting the momentum back to India.
“I would say one was Jasprit [Bumrah] getting Mohammad Rizwan. Extremely crucial, because that could have tilted the balance of the game. And it happened on the first ball of a new spell,” he added as quoted by ICC.
Bumrah also featured in Shastri’s other favourite moment, during his game-changing spell in the final against South Africa. The pacer conceded merely four runs in the 16th over before getting a big breakthrough in the next over.
“Brought back into the attack and then getting it to reverse and sneak through bat and pad [of Marco Jansen], I thought that was a very, very important wicket at that time,” Shastri recalled.
“Hardik [Pandya] had done the main damage by taking Heinrich Klaasen [in the previous over] but I thought back-to-back, that over and that wicket was extremely important.”
It was no surprise then that Bumrah was the standout bowler for Shastri, with the former all-rounder in awe of his prodigious control and accuracy.
“He just showed the world what it takes and you know, it is not often in your career when you have a ball in your hand and you say, do this and the ball does that,” Shastri said of Bumrah.
Bumrah was the Player of the Tournament for his 15 wickets at an average of 8.26, which led Shastri to compare the 30-year-old to three former greats of the game.
“Very few have done it, I thought Wasim [Akram] and Waqar [Younis] had it in their prime when they played white-ball cricket. Shane Warne had it where he could literally tell the ball, go there, pitch there, hit leg stump,” Shastri said.
“People who are on top of the game have that ability. I think Bumrah had that in this World Cup,” he concluded.
India ended their 11-year-long ICC trophy drought as Virat Kohli (76), Hardik Pandya (3/20) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/18) starred in Men in Blue’s seven-run win over South Africa in the final at Barbados on June 29. Virat’s masterclass knock helped India reach 176/7 in 20 overs, while Bumrah and Pandya unleashed a pace choke on Proteas, snatching the match from a losing position to restrict Proteas to 169/8 in their 20 overs. (ANI)
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