I practise bowling yorkers consistently at nets: Bumrah

Bumrah produced one of the finest death overs in the history of Indian Premier League as Mumbai Indians nearly committed harakiri before edging out Gujarat Lions in a thrilling Super Over finish here on Saturday night. 

“I don’t practise like how (Lasith) Malinga does it by keeping a shoe (which the Lankan ace then tries to hit with his toe-crushers’),” said Bumrah. 

“I practise with him on how to bowl the yorker consistently, but I always have a death bowling session whenever I practice as it’s important, because this is the time I bowl for Gujarat in domestic matches, for India and for MI. So constantly whenever I practice, I’ve a proper death bowling session,” he explained at the post match press conference. 

After the scored were tied, the one over Eliminator saw Mumbai Indians score just 11. 

Defending 11, Bumrah conceded only six runs displaying brilliant variations of slower deliveries including a few in the block hole. 

Bumrah said his skipper Rohit Sharma had told him not to take extra pressure in the super over. “He just told me to back my skill. ‘It’s just an over, don’t take extra pressure, be confident, be calm and try to execute our plans’,” Bumrah revealed. 

“This was the first time, when I was bowling super over, there is always pressure, because you have to defend only 11 runs, but at that time you only keep a calm head and not to focus on negative things. 

“I was focusing on positive aspects and thinking about the plan which we had made,” he added. Chasing 154 for victory, there were three run-outs in the last seven balls as Mumbai Indians got bundled out for 153 off the final ball. 

Asked whether the Mumbai batsmen had pressed the panic button in the last over, Bumrah said, “We were not panicking. We are losing wickets quickly, usually these things happen in cricket. It was a good tight match and we are happy at the end that we were the winning side. “We are working hard and are doing well. We have done well in previous matches. But this is cricket, someday you will click, some day you will not click. We are working hard and are looking to improve every time we play. Hopefully we will be able to do well in batting department as well.”

Meanwhile, Gujarat Lions opening batsman Ishan Kishan also lauded Bumrah’s effort in the super over.

“Actually, he bowled a very good over. Any batsman would have found it really tough to hit a six or a boundary off those yorkers. It was a perfect over for Mumbai Indians,” said Kishan. He insisted that his team always thought that the target could be defended. 

“Actually it’s all about belief. So we believed that our bowlers would do well and fielding was very good in the previous matches,” he said.