Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra reckons Jasprit Bumrah should have been Player of the Match against Afghanistan after India’s convincing win of eight wickets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Wednesday. Rohit Sharma was awarded Player of the Match for his blistering knock of 131 runs off just 84 balls in the run-chase of 273 runs.
On the other hand, Jasprit Bumrah played a key role in keeping Afghanistan to a below-par score of 272 runs after Hasmatullah Shahidi won the toss and decided to bat first. Bumrah once again provided an early breakthrough of Ibrahim Zadran as he got the ball to move away from the right-hander to produce an outside edge to KL Rahul.
Bumrah then varied his pace towards the end with guile to keep the Afghanistan batters at bay. He accounted for Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, and Rashid Khan and returned with his best World Cup figures of 4-39 in his quota of 10 overs.
“He (Bumrah) should have been the Player of the Match in my opinion for the simple reason that he picked up four wickets on a road-like pitch where bowlers say they don’t want to play and ask someone else to be given the ball. He picked up wickets with the new ball, middle overs and at the death – he delivers consistently,” said Chopra on his YouTube Channel.
“The opposing team batted well, whether it was Azmatullah Omarzai or Hashmatullah Shahidi, and little batting from Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz at the start, but he picked up wickets at regular intervals.”
Chopra tipped Bumrah as the best bowler in the world as he was right on the money on a batting paradise in Delhi.
“He picked up four wickets and hardly gave any runs in his 10 overs. A pitch and ground on which Mohammed Siraj got hit for 76 runs in his nine overs, he picked up four wickets and conceded 35-odd runs. In my opinion, there is no doubt that Jasprit Bumrah is the best bowler in the world at the moment,” said Chopra.
India will play their next match against arch-rivals Pakistan at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Saturday.
