Former Indian batting coach Abhishek Nayar believes Jasprit Bumrah didn’t bowl a special delivery to get rid of Shimron Hetmyer in the Super 8 clash of the ongoing T20 World Cup at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Sunday.
Hetmyer got off to a brisk start but Suryakumar Yadav gave the ball to Bumrah in the 12th over to give him the much-needed breakthrough. Bumrah had a terrific record against Hetmyer and continued his domination as he dismissed the left-hander for the sixth time in T20Is. The gun fast bowler also bamboozled Roston Chase in the same over with a slower delivery.
“Perfect matchup, but not the perfect shot selection because he was batting well till then. That’s what Bumrah does. Bumrah is always successful when his matchup comes against him. Generally, when batters get out to a bowler, they also get out to bad balls at times. It was a ball like that today (Sunday),” Abhishek Nayar said on Star Sports.
“This wasn’t a special ball, but the mentality that he may bowl that yorker or the slower ball might come at some point, so I should target him before that, that fear is enough. This is Bumrah’s specialty, although one shouldn’t say that, but when you become his bunny, no matter what sort of ball it is, it dismisses you,” he added.
Nayar noted that Bumrah had a new-ball bowling strategy against Hetmyer as he didn’t give him any room.
“I was surprised because he was tucking him at the start, but Bumrah didn’t leave his length. He was hitting the hard lengths and trying to take the ball across. This was new-ball bowling. This wasn’t middle-overs bowling,” he said.
The KKR head coach reckons the fear of a short ball forced Hetmyer to play a fuller ball on the backfoot.
“So somewhere or other, he surprised Hetmyer, and that’s why he played back to a fuller ball, because the mentality was that he would hit the ball on his head, and that’s why he was falling later, as he felt the ball was low. The ball wasn’t low. You chose the wrong ball and length,” Nayar elaborated.
India will take on England in the second semifinal at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, on Thursday.
