Mahela Jayawardene was seen passing some instructions to Jasprit Bumrah during a tense Gujarat Titans chase in the IPL 2025 Eliminator versus Mumbai Indians.
Mumbai Indians, led by Hardik Pandya, might have irked out a 20-run win over Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2025 Eliminator on Friday in Mullanpur but the five-time champions would be the first one to accept that they were in one hell of a fight for a place in Qualifier 2 against Punjab Kings. Gujarat Titans tried their best to chase down 229 and for the bulk of the contest, the 2022 champions were in with more than a shout to upset the Mumbai Indians.
Despite losing Shubman Gill in the opening over of their chase, Gujarat Titans were up with the asking run rate as Sai Sudharsan (80) and Washington Sundar (48) put on 84 runs for the third wicket. When Sundar and Sudharsan were going strong at the crease, Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene was seen chatting with Jasprit Bumrah at the boundary line.
ayawardene was accompanied by Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard. As soon as the MI head coach passed his instructions along, Bumrah was seen asking the former Sri Lanka captain to calm down and take it easy, as he seemingly refused to listen to anything he said.
When the incident happened, Jatin Sapru who was on the Hindi broadcast at that time, said, “Bumrah is basically saying ‘I know my job well. I am here. You stay calm and just give me a chance.”
It must be mentioned that Jasprit Bumrah made the same gestures while he was interacting with skipper Hardik Pandya when Gujarat Titans were going hell for leather in the chase.
In the end, the contest boiled down to Jasprit Bumrah and his brilliance to take Mumbai Indians over the line. Hardik Pandya brought on Bumrah for his third over in the 14th over of the Gujarat Titans’ chase as Mumbai Indians desperately looked for a wicket.
The India pacer did not disappoint as he produced a pitch-perfect yorker to rattle the stumps of Washington Sundar. Bumrah’s celebration made it clear how crucial the wicket was.
Sai Sudharsan lost his wicket soon after and in the end, Gujarat Titans stumbled to a 20-run loss and crashed out of the IPL 2025 season.
‘Bumrah is ridiculous’
In a contest where more than 430 runs were scored, Bumrah emerged as the standout bowler as he returned with a spell of 1/27 from his quota of four overs.
Former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody hailed Bumrah, saying no other pacer in the world comes close to his skills currently.
Speaking on ESPNCricinfo ‘TimeOut’, Moody said, “The 24 balls he bowls is such a threat. It is not impossible, but it is so difficult to get big overs against him. You are really playing 20 overs versus 16. He is so far ahead of the rest, it is ridiculous.”
“With Bumrah, he’s got that genuine wicket-taking ability. He’s pure class. The yorker he bowled, you just cannot bowl a better ball than that. That is the absolute perfect leg-stump yorker that has gone between Sundar’s legs. To a batter that is in and set, you quite often see that with a new batter but this is a batter that is in. He’s going at 200 strike rate,” he added.
Bumrah has so far taken 18 wickets in the ongoing IPL 2025 season and has been the standout bowlers for Mumbai Indians.
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