‘The damage has been done’: Australian stars ‘confused’ by Mumbai Indians not using Jasprit Bumrah

Former Australia captain Steve Smith was baffled by Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya’s tactics in the record-breaking IPL loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad and said he could not understand why the top-order walked Jasprit Bumrah did not bowl 6 deliveries until the 13th over of the match. Sunrisers Hyderabad rode a stunning power-batting performance to post their highest-ever IPL total of 277/3 before registering a 31-run victory over an equally aggressive Mumbai Indians on Wednesday night. Bumrah, the second most economical bowler in the tournament after SRH captain Pat Cummins (2/35), conceded 36 runs in four overs without producing any wicket.

“I was confused by some of the bowling changes in Mumbai’s first innings. Bumrah bowled in the fourth innings and he scored five runs and then we didn’t see him again until the 13th over when they were 173 points,” Smith told us. Hosts broadcaster “Star Sports”.

“All the damage has been done and you need your best bowler to come back and take some wickets in that period and I think they missed a trick by not bringing him back until the 13th over,” he pointed out.

“I think he made some mistakes and that’s the biggest thing for me. I mean, you can’t bowl one of the best bowlers in the world.” Smith said Bumrah later Reengaging in the attack rendered him useless.

“When the ball spins like this, you have to bring your best bowlers back earlier than you would like. It’s just adapting on the go and I almost got Bumrah out in the 15th, 16th over.” , try to get some wickets, if he gets wickets you will slow down anyway.

“It doesn’t matter who is bowling if the guy bats at the end and we did see Bumrah in the last two overs where he was still getting hit with the bat at the back end,” he explained.

“So if he had come back early and taken some risks, it would have been a completely different story and they scored 277 and they could have gone down to 240 and probably chased those guys down, so I’m just confused that he only pitched One goal until the end of the 13th.” Smith said it was difficult to understand the power confrontation in this game.

“…38 sixes in total, the ball was flying everywhere. It was an unbelievable game.

Another former cricketer Brian Lara praised SRH’s Abhishek Sharma who scored 63 off 23 balls.

“Abhishek Sharma is one of my favorite young batsmen… He can hit the ball, he’s not a muscular guy, but when he hits the ball, the ball stays hit. I think His batting today was special,” he said.

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