ICC World Cup 2019: I Was Thinking of it as Just Another Game – Jasprit Bumrah
Jun 8, 2019 at 11:47 AM
In their preliminary game of World Cup 2019, India defeated South Africa by six wickets with 15 balls to spare. Their performance in the prelude match seemed methodical. India’s bowling went as planned, starting off on a good note by tagging wickets earlier in the game. The top-ranked pacer of India Jasprit Bumrah led their bowling unit to maintain a constant pressure over the Proteas players.
The pace spearhead cracked South Africa’s opening batsmen and took the wickets of Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla. The speedster, Bumrah put on a great show in his debut World Cup ending with 2/35 figures conceding merely 3.50 runs in an over.
Meanwhile revealing his success secret in the game, Bumrah said that he took it as just another ordinary game of cricket. This eventually helped him to exploit the bowler-friendly conditions at the Rose Bowl Cricket Stadium. His wickets of the Proteas’ openers helped India restrict the whole team at a total of 227/9.
“I wasn’t thinking about this being my first World Cup game, I was thinking of it as just another game of cricket. I tried to focus on what I always do. It was nice to have a little bit of help [from the pitch]. When you have some help, don’t try to do too much. Just bowl good hard lengths, that was the plan and I tried to stick to it,” said Bumrah.
A good start in the big tournament boosts the team for performing even better, says Bumrah
After winning the match, the pacer said that before going for the game they analysed their strengths and ways to use it to their advantage. He said that starting off on a good note helps the team to remain positive and there’s less to catch-up.
“You always want to start well in a big tournament like this. When you do, it’s a positive for the team and you don’t have to play catch-up. If start is slow, you are always catching up, but we prepared well and it’s very satisfying to start with a win,” he said.
Adding further, he praised Rohit Sharma for playing “on not the easiest wicket” while leading his team to hunt down the target score set by the Proteas players. Rohit remained out of the opponents’ hands with 122 runs off 144 balls.
“Rohit also played very well, he anchored the innings throughout. On not the easiest wicket, he played for 45 overs, so that’s a very good sign for us. We’ll gain so much confidence in the first game, said the 25-year-old pacer.
Nonetheless, entering in the tournament with a win boosts teams’ confident for their second match. India is going to face one of their strongest competitor Australia on June 9 at The Oval. Australia had won their last match against West Indies on June 6 by a margin of 15 runs.