India’s gun fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah believes the two fours which Shivam Dube hit in the penultimate over were the turning point in India’s five-wicket win over the West Indies in the Super 8 clash of the T20 World Cup at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Sunday.
Dube joined forces with Sanju Samson after Hardik Pandya was dismissed and India needed 17 runs off 10 balls at that stage. The left-hander struck a boundary on the first ball he faced. Dube got another four on the third ball he faced, guiding a yorker to the third man region and then ran two leg-byes.
India then needed only seven runs to win in the last over of the innings and Samson was able to hit a first-ball six.
“You know, obviously, the two fours that Dube hit, it is in the cricketing books and stats, nobody will really appreciate that, but the people who really know cricket, the two fours really didn’t set the pressure on us because sometimes 8-9 runs in the last over, it can get tricky sometimes,” Bumrah told ICC after the match.
Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah returned with figures of 2-36 and the fast bowler revealed they wanted to take the pace off at Eden Gardens as the track was holding up.
“The wicket was holding up so we wanted to use our variation, we did not want to bowl too fast because that was an easy option. Hit our back of length, use our change of pace, so we wanted to make run scoring as difficult as possible, and today was a good day where I got some wickets,” he said.
Bumrah was all praise for Sanju Samson, who scored a brilliant knock of 97 runs off just 50 balls to help his team get over the line.
“Unreal. I’m really happy for him because, you know in the recent last month he’s had a little bit of an up and down journey. To keep a good mindset, sometimes being in and out, it can be difficult for you as a cricketer. You want stability, you can sometimes question yourself, but come this day with the conviction that he had, he was absolutely clear, really, really, happy for him, top knock. Hopefully, he continues to do this and goes from strength to strength,” Jasprit Bumrah said.
India will take on England in the second semifinal at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, on Thursday.
