NZ v IND | Jasprit Bumrah is India’s X-factor, says Shoaib Akhtar
Former Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar has tagged Jasprit Bumrah as India’s X-factor after their seven-run win in the fifth T20I against New Zealand at the Bay Oval. Bumrah’s spell of three for 12 from his quota of four overs triggered a Kiwi collapse and brought India back into the game.
Captaining the side in Rohit Sharma’s absence, KL Rahul threw the ball to Shivam Dube for the 10th over of New Zealand’s chase. Tim Seifert and Ross Taylor, who had settled into the match by then, took the youngster to the cleaners with 34 runs coming off that one over. The Kiwis were back in the ascendancy as they needed just 66 more runs from the final 10 with seven wickets in hand.
Under the pump, Rahul turned to Bumrah, who turned the match around, giving away only 6 runs in the 12th over as India, slowly, started applying pressure again. Seifert succumbed and the Kiwis slipped from 116 for three to 133 for eight in the space of just 27 balls.
Though Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur were both impressive, Bumrah was the star once again as his accurate yorkers got rid of Daryl Mitchell and Tim Southee.
“Bumrah is a class act. It took him 2-3 matches to come back to full rhythm. Some bowlers take their time when they come out from injuries. He took a couple of series but today he looked a class apart. 3 for 12 was just superb. Bumrah won’t let you score 25-30 runs in the death overs. Saini and Shardul were good too but I think Bumrah is the X-factor of the Indian side,” Akhtar said on his Youtube channel.