Kwena Maphaka bowls four overs, gets hit for 66 runs. Hardik Pandya himself leaks 46 runs for a wicket. Gerald Coetzee smashed for 57 for 1 wicker and Piyush Chawla gets hit for 34 runs in 2 overs. Shams Mulani punished for 33 runs in 2. It is fair to say that Mumbai Indian’s bowling against Sunrisers Hyderabad *SRH), irrespective of the nature of  the surface, was uninspiring. However, one bowler stood out. He was, of course, Jasprit Bumrah.

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As SRH registered the highest team total in IPL or across T20 leagues by putting up 277 for 3 in 2 overs, Bumrah went for just 36 from his four. Two former fast bowlers, from India and Australia, have slammed the captaincy of Hardik Pandya for using Bumrah in such an ineffective manner. They are Brett Lee and Irfan Pathan.

Taking to Twitter, Irfan posted a series of tweets, questioning the tactical decisions taken by Hardik in that game. “The captaincy of Hardik Pandya has been ordinary to say the least. Keeping Bumrah away for too long when the carnage was on was beyond my understanding,” Irfan sent one tweet, before he slammed the MI captain for his slow innings in the chase of 277. Pathan wrote, “If the whole team is playing with the strike of 200, Captain can’t bat with the batting strike rate of 120.”

Brett Lee had a similar view on it. While he said that it would have been difficult to stop the likes of Heinrich Klaasen, Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head, not giving Bumrah the first over was a wrong decision. 

A young bowler like Maphaka, who just played an U19 World Cup, was given the first over and the youngster crumbed under pressure once Head started to smash the boundaries all over the park. Lee feels by the time Bumrah came into the attack, it was too late as a solid foundation had been laid.

Brett Lee, JioCinema IPL expert, on Mumbai Indians’ bowling, “I think Mumbai Indians got their bowling wrong… Jasprit Bumrah should have bowled the first over. In the last two games when Jasprit Bumrah has come onto bowl, they’ve been none for 42 and today, they were none for 42 again when he came onto bowl. The game is already set up. Put that aside, Klaasen was pure class tonight, didn’t matter who was bowling, you were going to get crunched.”

‘Pat Cummins was outstanding’

Lee also praised SRH captain Pat Cummins for being on top of his game with the ball. He bowled an outstanding spell of 2 for 35 in 4 overs to SRH to a brilliant win as they collected their first points of the season.

“That’s what Pat Cummins does. Not only with his captaincy but with his experience, he knows how to bowl in these crucial overs. To bowl the way he did and execute his plan. You mentioned over 500 runs were scored on this wicket tonight, the other question I pose is that, ‘Mr. Groundsman, is there any danger of some water on the wicket?’ Just a little bit of paani, just give the bowlers something. But Pat Cummins was outstanding,” said Lee.