Results in brief: India (253/7 in 20 overs) beat England (246/7 in 20 overs) by 7 runs in Mumbai to reach the T20 World Cup final. MAIN | SCORECARD
“Jasprit Bumrah has ensured that he is not returning to Ahmedabad alone, but has taken the team with him,” quipped the former cricketer after the T20 World Cup semi-final on Thursday.
A staggering 499 runs were scored at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. India posted 253. England replied with 246. England lost by seven runsthis is in contrast to their defeat in the 1987 ODI World Cup final, when Australia scored 253 and England replied with 246.
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Still, we were here talking about the T20I competition.
The Wankhede pitch revived cricket’s oldest class division: the batsmen were pampered gentlemen and the bowlers their overworked servants. Superstars were humbled. Jofra Archer, usually the most feared pace merchant, was sent for soul-searching by the rampant Sanju Samson, conceding 61 runs. Varun Chakravarthy, the world’s highest-rated T20I bowler, scored 64.
But one man stood aside, as he so often does.
Jasprit Bumrah.
He is now India’s safest banker, having conceded just 33 catches in his four operations. More importantly, he gave away just 14 runs at the death when England were still within reach of the target after Jacob Bethell produced one of the knocks of his young career.
We are often told that comparing epochs is folly; that what Malcolm Marshall achieved was unique and what Wasim Akram conjured was pure magic. We are told to respect the passage of time. But for Bumrah, can’t we make an exception? Isn’t he the once-in-a-generation outlier that makes the “different time” argument moot? Sanju Samson says Jasprit Bumrah deserves man of the match in semi-final (PTI Photo)
Your captain knows that Bumrah being off is about as likely as finding a seat in Mumbai during rush hour. Even the captain of the opposition knows it. They plan a 16-over sprint because they know that safety—not bravery—is often the best way to take him down.
Samson grabbed the headlines with his silky 89. But the Indian batting unit fired in unison. Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya made fearless cameos to lift India to 253.
It looked enough, even on a dewy evening, even at a venue where defending totals can be a bowling captain’s nightmare.
It looked more than enough when Bumrah removed England captain Harry Brook with one of his cunningly deceptive slower balls. India were catching everything that came their way. Axar Patel produced a flap to remove the England captain.
Varun and Axar lured Jose Buttler and Tom Banton into attacking them and made it work in their favour.
England were 95 for 4 in the eighth over. Yes, they kept up with the required rate. But wickets, the chasing side’s worst enemy, fell all too regularly.
BETHELL BERSERK
Still, Bethell and Will Jacks turned the game around. Bethell dropped Varun in the middle overs and sent almost everything into the stands, while Jacks offered excellent support. England passed 150. At 172 for 4 in the 13th over, the chase suddenly seemed within reach.
But Arshdeep Singh struck, sticking to his wide-yorker strategy despite escaping a couple of wides to dismiss Jacks in the 13th over. When Axar took another stunning catch – a running relay effort at deep extra cover – the match seemed to have tilted firmly back in India’s favour.
However, Bethell refused to give up. Along with Sam Curran, he continued to search for boundaries. You could almost feel the tension in the otherwise raucous Wankhede crowd.
BUMRAH COMES BACK, FINISHES IT
Then Suryakumar Yadav decided to deploy his most trusted weapon.
Bumrah was used flexibly during this tournament. However, he usually missed the 17th and 19th overs after the death. He was handed 16 on Thursday.
England needed 69 off 30 balls. Feasible, right?
Bumrah conceded just eight. Couple of wide yorkers, low full toss, slower ball bouncer. A rare full toss down the leg side was bowled for four. Bumrah too is human after all.
England still refused to fade. Bethell tackled Arshdeep in the 17th over, collecting 16 runs and reducing the equation to 44 from three overs.
Again, doable.
Not when Bumrah was still around.
He conceded only six runs in his final over. Four yorkers nailed to perfection against the batter in sublime touch.
Done and dusted.
38 needed from two overs. India closed the match with Pandya and Dube, their fifth and sixth bowling options.
“We were hoping that Bumrah would save it in the final,” Axar said after the match. “There was very little margin for error on this pitch but the way he bowled his yorkers and slower balls was spectacular. That’s why we call him the king. He knows how to get the job done.”
12 YEARS AND RUNNING
Photo by PTI
Everyone knows it. It does it across formats, under conditions. Even the opposition knows this, yet there is little they can do about it.
On a surface where 499 runs were plundered, it almost looked like Bumrah was deciding how many he would concede.
Interestingly, Bumrah is not even among the top five wicket takers in this T20 World Cup. His spell on Thursday may not even have peaked. However, numbers don’t always tell the whole story.
It has been more than a decade since Bumrah graced our screens with this unique action. Some doubted its longevity. Others thought the batters would eventually figure him out.
But his skill only sharpened. The computer upstairs, as they say, is constantly upgrading.
Former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop once summed it up neatly when he said that Bumrah had earned such a reputation that even his bad balls were rarely punished.
“He’s got pace, but he’s also got variation – and more importantly, he knows when to use it,” Bishop said. \
“Sometimes he goes stump hunting, other times he assesses the conditions and mixes in a slower ball or a bouncer.
“And because of that unique action, he rushes at-bats. That’s why even some of his full pitches are harder to hit than they should be.”
“When you perform like that over the years, you build a reputation. Batters respect that. He’s a generational pitcher who’s earned it.”
As India prepares for another World Cup final, Bumrah remains the opposition’s biggest problem. And perhaps the greatest gift for the Man in Blue.
– The end
Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
06 Mar 2026 04:07 IST
