VIDEO | ‘Aggressive’ Jasprit Bumrah delivers clapping send-off after taming Andre Russell with lusty bouncer

Jasprit Bumrah’s biggest strength has always been his yorkers and length balls but his bouncers have never been discussed in the same breath. That side of his bowling, which comes into picture when he bowls in the middle overs, has not been discussed in depth but the Gujarat pacer has shown a great example of that.

Andre Russell, who launched into a scathing attack last year to ensure KKR’s only win against Mumbai Indians in their last 11 encounters, posed a great threat and that had to be tamed. And Bumrah, instead of trying his usual method of bowling yorkers, decided to use the weapon he rarely uses. 

On the fourth ball of the 11th over, Bumrah bowled a fine short ball to Russell, against which even a tall man like the Jamaican had no way to hide. He wanted to sway away but spectacularly failed to take the bat out of the way. The snorter eventually took a faint hit at the back of the bat and lobbed way too high for a catch.

It was a simple catch for the fielder stationed at fine leg but the height made Quinton de Kock realise that it was his catch. The gloveman chased the ball with a single-minded determination and eventually got hold of the catch to send Russell back to the hut. So thrilled was Bumrah by the dismissal, he gave away a long clapping send-off, with one of his eyes being fixed on the Jamaican cricketer. Mumbai had found a total grip in the game with that dismissal and it was only because of the few lusty blows by Pat Cummins that turned out to be the difference.