Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan slammed Jasprit Bumrah after Mumbai Indians suffered a two-wicket loss against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Raipur on Sunday. Bumrah conceded only 20 runs in quota of four overs but went wicketless.

However, Pathan said the Raipur pitch was tailor-made for Bumrah and he should have got wickets. MI were defending a tricky score of 167 and RCB were able to just get over the line in a thrilling fashion after Bhuvneshwar Kumar smashed a six on the third ball of the final over against Raj Bawa.

Meanwhile, Bumrah has struggled to bring his best in the ongoing season, taking three wickets in 11 matches at an average of 116.33 and an economy rate of 8.51.

Irfan Pathan said on his YouTube Channel, “Now, when Deepak Chahar picked up two wickets, it felt like Jasprit Bumrah had to come into the game. But Bumrah did not really come back into the contest after that. It looked like this pitch was tailor made for him. It seemed like he would bowl more at the stumps and showcase his ability to get batters out LBW or bowled, but that was not really seen. Bumrah definitely bowled well, but the wickets that were expected from him were missing.”

On the other hand, Pathan praised Krunal Pandya for scoring a match-winning knock of 73 runs off 46 balls. Pathan also hailed RCB’s decision to promote Pandya to number five after they lost early wickets.

He concluded, “The masterstroke from RCB was promoting Krunal Pandya up the order to number five. During that partnership, it was very clear that Jacob Bethell would play cautiously and focus on rotating the strike, while Krunal Pandya would take the attacking role. The way Krunal batted and attacked was truly praiseworthy because Bengaluru badly needed at least one batter to play with aggression. Had that not happened, things could have become difficult for them. He took his team forward in a very comfortable manner from that point.”

Royal Challengers Bengaluru will next take on Kolkata Knight Riders at Raipur on Wednesday.