Former South African gun fast bowler Dale Steyn has predicted that Jasprit Bumrah will probably win the Purple Cap in the next season after a dismal show in the ongoing IPL 2026. Bumrah could only take four wickets in 13 matches of the season at an average of 102.50 and an economy rate of 8.36 and thus could not deliver the goods for the five-time champions.
Bumrah was rested in MI’s last league stage match against Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday. MI suffered a 30-run loss and ended their disappointing campaign in ninth place in the points table.
Dale Steyn said on AB de Villiers’ YouTube Channel, “He won a World Cup just a month and a half, two months ago, you know, and he was probably one of the bowlers of the tournament, you know. So no, you can’t focus on him primarily. He had a bad tournament. There have been good batters at this IPL that haven’t hit the ground running. Okay. So it shows that he’s human. He’ll come back strong and next season he’ll probably win the Purple Cap next season, you know.”
On the other hand, AB de Villiers rated Bumrah as the greatest bowler in all formats of the games. AB backed the ace pacer to make a strong comeback after a mundane IPL season.
He said, “Bumrah’s worst IPL of his life. I think his average is over 100 this year. I mean, there are lots of reasons for that and I still think he’s the greatest bowler right now in all formats around the world. So that hasn’t changed. One bad performance doesn’t take the class out of a player. He’ll be back. There’s no doubt about it.”
Bumrah has been rested for the one-off Test and three ODIs against Afghanistan.
