Reliance on gamechanger Bumrah key in India's triumph

Jasprit Bumrah was one of the main architects of India's T20 World Cup triumph and he capped off his tournament as the player of the tournament after the Men in Blue won the final by seven runs against South Africa on Saturday. 

Bumrah's campaign will go down in history as one of the greatest individual displays ever seen in the event's history.

Collecting 15 wickets at an average of 8.26, Bumrah finished with an astonishing economy of just 4.17, by far and away the best rate of those to bowl a minimum of 20 overs at the tournament. He joins teammate Virat Kohli (a two-time winner) as India players to claim the Player of the Tournament award.

"I honestly think he's the best seam bowler who has played white ball cricket," former England captain Michael Vaughan told Cricbuzz yesterday.

"If you can tell me a better seam bowler. I know Wasim Akram was special and there have been many others to mention but I just think he's got this amazing action ability and he's got the pace, he's got all the different skill sets and he does it under pressure day in and day out. It's not just two or three times at the World Cup. It's pretty much every single game."

Vaughan put it neatly as Bumrah delivered outstanding displays of his acumen throughout the tournament and propelled his reputation to newer heights. He was immaculate in all three phases of play. He bowled unplayable deliveries with the new ball, disrupted the opposition's momentum in the middle overs, nailed yorkers as well as slowers to knock the wind out of the opposition's sails in the latter stages, and was skipper Rohit Sharma's go-to option whenever India were in a bothersome position. One could hardly point out an occasion when a batter tried to take him on as most if not all, tried to see off his overs and look for scoring opportunities elsewhere.

Such has been his incredible impact in this World Cup. His economy rate was 4.07 in the Powerplay, 4.75 in the middle overs, and 3.78 at the death.

Bumrah won phases of play, often on his own, and that assurance he brought gave Rohit and India the belief of winning games from any situation.