Following their narrow seven-run defeat against India in the T20 World Cup semi-final on Thursday, England captain Harry Brook hailed fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah as the ‘best bowler of all time’ for his decisive spell with the ball in the end overs.
Put into bat, India posted a mammoth 253/7 in their 20 overs led by Sanju Samson’s brilliant 42-ball 89 and vital contributions from the middle and lower order batters. Jacob Bethell smashed 105 from 48 balls to lead England’s strong reply as they finished on 246/7 in a high-scoring contest.
In a high-scoring game in which both teams combined to amass 499 runs, Bumrah showed his class with the ball, to register excellent figures of 1/33 from his four overs. He conceded just 14 runs in his last two overs bowled at the death — including six runs in the 18th over and eight runs in the 16th over to stifle England’s charge at the end.
Introduced in the fifth over, he struck with his first ball with the key wicket of England batting mainstay and captain Harry Brook. Brook perished after scoring just seven runs, falling to the slower ball from Bumrah, with Axar Patel taking an excellent catch running back from the cover region.
Bumrah Completes 500 Wickets In International Cricket
“He (Bumrah) is a very good bowler, arguably the best of all time at the minute. He has been a very good bowler for a long time,” Brook said after the match.
Bumrah registered a new landmark to his name, becoming the eighth Indian bowler to complete 500 wickets in international cricket across the three formats.
Brook also hailed India’s fielding, while picking out Axar’s catch to dismiss him as ‘one of the best catches’.
“The Indians fielded extremely well. That catch is arguably one of the best catches I have seen as well. So yeah, hats off to them.”
India will face New Zealand in the T20 World Cup final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
