Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli has lauded Jasprit Bumrah for his outstanding show at RCB’s den on Thursday night. In the ongoing IPL 2019 game, Bumrah, who has eked out three wickets to bag Man of the Match award when his bowling partners for Mumbai Indians (MI) leaked runs. Thus, Kohli has revealed that Indians are blessed to have Bumrah in the fold.
Interestingly, Bumrah being in a solid form is a good sign for the Men in Blue.
In a pursuit to chase the target of 188, Bumrah provided his side with an all-important breakthrough in over number 14 of RCB’s innings. Hardik Pandya caught Kohli at the score of 46 off 32 deliveries. Subsequently, it has brought visitors led by Rohit Sharma back into the game.
So much so, Bumrah stemmed the run flow by attributing it with the wickets of Kohli followed by Shimron Hetmyer and Colin de Grandhomme respectively.
Also, the 30-year-old top-order batsman has blamed himself for getting out at a crucial stage of the game. He tried to take on Indians’ premier bowler before paying a massive price in terms of his wicket.
IPL 2019: Jasprit Bumrah’s swansong continues, Kohli hails the hero –
Kohli has also praised veteran Sri Lankan bowler Lasith Malinga, who’s the leading wicket-taker (154) in the IPL history.
“I got out at a wrong point of time. I mean Jassi is a top-class bowler. A bit of a mistake from me to take him on at that stage. Mumbai is lucky to have him. And also Malinga. And if Jassi is in good form, it is good for India,” Kohli said during a post-match presentation.
In between, AB de Villiers tried his best to see hosts home, but they fell agonisingly short of six runs. Subsequently, the game was marred by umpiring howler when Lasith Malinga clearly overstepped while bowling the final delivery of the game.
Earlier, on losing partners at the other end, de Villiers had no choice than launching an attack on Indians’ bowlers which further saw the last-ball thriller robbed hosts their second game of the IPL season 12.
Even though Malinga, who was making a comeback defended 18 runs, he went wicketless and gave away 47 runs in four overs
Meanwhile, de Villiers remained unbeaten on 41-ball 70 with the help of six sixes and four fours. He scored at the strike-rate of 170.73.
IPL 2019: Virat Kohli disappointed with a home show –
Kohli reiterated that they could’ve done better during Mumbai’s batting. He added they need to work on their death bowling and maintained the lads will learn from their past mistakes.
The star cricketer hinted that they should take a leap out of Indians bowlers’ book on how they’ve bowled.
“When they were 147 for 7, we should have done better. The last few overs were brutal for us. A few more strikes apart from AB could have done the job for us. We need to be smarter at death bowling. Sure the guys will take a lot of learnings from the game. Kohli added.
Bumrah, who had an injury scare during Delhi Capitals’ (DC) game at Wankhade had pulled his socks to lead from the front. He gave away just 20 runs in his quota of four overs on a surface which is quite known for batters.
He’s certainly an asset to look at and many have had suggested to wrap him in cotton wool before the kick-off of the 2019 World Cup.
With pressure mounting on RCB camp, they will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Sunday (March 31).