NEW DELHI: Mumbai Indians pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was breathing fire on Thursday as he claimed a five-wicket haul against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
This was Bumrah’s second fifer in the history of the tournament and first against RCB. He became only the fourth bowler after James Faulkner, Jaydev Unadkat and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to secure two five-wicket hauls in IPL thus far.
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Coincidentally, Bumrah, with 29 wickets till date, also leads the list of bowlers with most dismissals against RCB followed by Ravindra Jadeja/ Sandeep Sharma (26), Sunil Narine (24) and Ashish Nehra/ Harbhajan Singh (23).
In his characteristically humble manner, Bumrah downplayed his sensational spell, emphasising the unpredictability of cricket. He expressed a grounded perspective, stating that he prefers not to dwell too much on one standout performance as the dynamics of the game can swiftly change.
“It was a good day. One of those days where what I was executing was working. Wicket looked sticky (early on). Disappointed with my last ball. When the first over was bowled, I realised the ball was gripping a bit,” Bumrah said at the mid-innings interaction.

“Wanted to bowl a good hard length. I’ve been doing this for 11 years, so I’m used to it. What happened at the end was dew set in and it got better to bat on.
Don’t want to get too high or too low with good and bad days. This game is a great leveller. Want to keep working hard. The wicket did get better. DK played a special knock. Over here, it’s tough to stop someone when they get going,” Bumrah concluded.
Despite Bumrah’s impressive figures of 5 for 21, RCB put up a formidable total of 196 for 8. Faf du Plessis led the charge with a brisk innings of 61 runs off 40 balls, while Rajat Patidar contributed a quickfire 50 off just 26 deliveries. However, Virat Kohli, usually a reliable performer, had an off day with the bat.
In the latter stages of the innings, Dinesh Karthik played a crucial role with a blistering unbeaten cameo, smashing 53 runs off just 23 balls. His explosive innings provided the much-needed impetus to RCB’s total, ensuring they reached a competitive score despite Bumrah’s stellar bowling performance.