'You Say, Do This And The Ball Does That': Former Indian Cricketer Lauds Jasprit Bumrah For His Brilliant Performances In 2024 T20 World Cup

His stint at the tournament was one of the most dominating individual ones. He played an important role in India's unbeaten campaign in the mega-event, which helped them to lift the trophy. His performance in the death over in the summit clash changed the tides for the team as he also played a huge role in the high-octane clash against arch-nemesis Pakistan in the group stage match in New York.

His performances in both these matches received special praise from Ravi Shastri, who also chose the high-octane match between India and Pakistan as the match of the tournament.

Also Read: Manu Bhaker shares heartwarming message for her mother

“I think India-Pakistan because India was made to fight there and realize what the right combination should be going forward in the tournament. That and then of course the final, those final five overs [from the T20 World Cup final],” Shastri was quoted as saying on ICC Review.

“I'd say one was Jasprit [Bumrah] getting Mohammad Rizwan. Extremely crucial, because that could have tilted the balance of the game. And it happened on the first ball of a new spell,” he added.

Shastri also emphasized what made Bumrah perform brilliantly in the mega-event.

“He just showed the world what it takes and you know, it's not often in your career when you have a ball in your hand and you say, do this and the ball does that. Very few have done it, I thought Wasim [Akram] and Waqar [Younis] had it in their prime when they played white-ball cricket. Shane Warne had it where he could literally tell the ball, go there, pitch there, hit leg stump. People who are on top of the game have that ability. I think Bumrah had that in this World Cup," he revealed.

Bumrah came back into the attack in the summit clash against South Africa when they needed just 30 runs to win with as many balls. Bumrah gave away just six runs in his last two overs and took the wicket of Marco Jansen with a brilliant delivery.

"For someone to recover that quickly and then move the way he did"- Ravi Shastri hails Rishabh Pant's comeback

Rishabh Pant returned to the national side due to his brilliant performances in IPL 2024. He hadn't played a single match since December 2022 due to the lethal car accident but then played a huge role in India's campaign at the 2024 T20 World Cup.

He batted at the No.3 position as skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli used to open the innings. Pant took advantage of this position by scoring gritty knocks, especially on tricky pitches.

“He did his job with the bat, but it was his keeping that surprised everyone. For someone to recover that quickly and then move the way he did. He hardly missed anything, albeit he must have felt the pressure as the tournament got on because it's not easy to come back and do all the stuff he did,” Shastri concluded.

Pant had scored 171 runs after playing in eight matches at a strike rate of 127.61 but then got out for a duck in the summit clash.