'Bapu' Axar and Bumrah: Two Gujaratis rewrite history at Wankhede

Two Gujaratis, one of them Bapu, against the British. The world knows how the story ends. But it renews itself every few years. On the cricket field these days. So it has to be said again.

Thursday, March 5, 2026. It is the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup at the Wankhede. India bat first against England for 253 runs. No one has ever chased down more than 200 in a T20 World Cup. India seems destined to win.

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IND vs ENG T20 WORLD CUP 2026: MAIN | SCORECARD

Abhishek Sharma heartbroken again – prayers didn’t work. But Sanju Samson answered them and renewed his attempt at destiny. Shivam Dube continued his dream journey under the radar. Another good day for Sanja, another bad day for Abhishek. (PTI photo)

ENGLAND’S EXPLOSIVE START

But the goal is flat. The curator plucked it from the grass and rolled it lightly before throwing it. No swing. No rotation. No dew. All you have to do is line up the ball and go bang-bang. And England are on a roll: 1 down for 37.

Then the die is rolled. India start with Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep. Jasprit Bumrah starts for the first time – first ball of the fifth over. Bethel’s knock was one of the generations to come. (PTI photo)

Bumrah charging. That strange, run-of-the-mill whipping. He runs his fingers over the seam. Not the pace. Don’t swing. Slower ball. Harry Brook, who brokered everything, reads it early. He’s over the shot before the ball arrives, arms outstretched, the kind of dismissive lift that says I saw better. The ball climbs. Long gone. High, against the Wankhede lights. Bumrah’s stunner and Axar’s screamer of a catch sent Brook back early. (PTI photo)

AXAR’S GRAVITY GIVING UP CATCHES

Here, dear reader, we must pause and dissect the art of catching a ball that is moving away from you. Running backwards with your eyes on the ball is never easy. Running backwards is like running against the past.

When you pull it out, it’s celebrated like Diwali, Holi, Eid, Christmas all rolled into one – the way India celebrated Kapil Dev when he caught Vivian Richards in the 1983 World Cup final. That catch ended the champion’s hopes. This one is about to do the same.

Brook’s parabola hangs over the field. No one is in her arc. If you spill it, it will be forgotten. They shrug their shoulders, give encouraging applause. Not once, Axar Patel’s catches changed the momentum for India twice against England. (PTI photo)

But two Gujaratis are performing jugalbandi tonight. It will not fall or forget. Axar runs, pauses, edits. He stretches out his hands. The ball lands in his palm, he doesn’t want to spill it.

“It was one of my best catches,” he said later. But it’s not done yet.

Ball 13.6. Will Jacks lifts the ball to Arshdeep Singh towards extra cover. Bapu runs to the left from deep cover, almost stumbles, catches the ball yards from the boundary and delivers it to Shivam Dube.

Two catches in the semi-finals. Both from positions where the ball should not have arrived. Both completed with the unhurried confidence of a man resigned to the difficulty of things. Nothing is impossible. Bapu Axar is at work.

WANKHEDE’S TENSION IS SILENCE

But the game is on the line. Varun Chakravarthy is taken for 13 in the 14th over – 69 now needed from 30 balls.

Bumrah is coming back. This is the moment when every Indian leans forward, every English prayer becomes a little more specific. Bumrah to Bethell. The best bowler in the world to the best batsman in the chase.

The Wankhede is strangely quiet at such times. Not the silence of an empty land—this place has at least 50,000 and every seat is filled and every throat is raw—but the silence of tension, of impending loss.

It is the silence of held breath. Collective, biological, Indian. The entire crowd functions as one pair of lungs waiting for a breath of hope. It’s coming.

BUMRAH’S DEATH OVER MASTERCLASS

Jasprit Bumrah stands at the top of his brand. He only deals an 8. The equation breathes again. Wankhede finds his voice.

Over 18 Bumrah is back again. A hat-trick of yorks. Two low full toss deliveries, guided like missiles. Six runs conceded. England now need 39 from 12 overs.

Game over.

The old equation reversed again: English thrashing, two Gujarati dictators. Bumrah celebrates India’s victory. (PTI photo)

Jugalbandi ends as all the best jugalbandis do, not with a flourish, not with drama, but on a note so inevitable, so perfectly placed, that the silence after it looks like resolution: India win by 7 runs.

Then Parthiv Patel asks Axar Patel about the catches. And he will smile the smile of a man who has been underestimated so many times that he has stopped noticing.

“It was one of my best catches,” he said of Brook. He would run out of superlatives about the latter. So: “We won.”

Man of the match Sanju Samson will be asked about Bumrah’s two overs at the end. He smiles and says he would give POTM to Bumrah.

Two Gujaratis. One of them is Bapu. The British came so close it almost looked like the 18th century. But the world knew how the story would end. This is always true. The story just needed to be told again.

India is in the final. The British leave India, denied glory by two Gujaratis on the cricket field.

Sandipan Sharma, our guest writer, likes to write about cricket, film, music and politics. They believe they are connected.

– The end

Issued by:

Debodinna Chakraborty

Published on:

06 Mar 2026 07:55 IST