Surprisingly enough, India’s top pacer Jasprit Bumrah won Player of the Tournament for his flawless contribution to their victorious T20 World Cup endeavour.
With 15 wickets in eight matches, Bumrah ranks third on the list of wicket-takers, but his impact on India in the ICC championship match—which they won after a 17-year absence—was incalculable.
By capturing two wickets from Reeza Hendricks early on and Marco Jansen late on to limit the amount of runs that South Africa could score, Bumrah demonstrated his worth to this team.
“I tried to keep calm. We play the sport for this, I am really over the moon, my son is here, family is here, we’ve been working really hard towards this, no better feeling than that. We play sport for the big stages,” said Bumrah during the presentation ceremony.
He claimed that the occasion’s significance inspired him to perform even better.
“On the big day, you have to give more, throughout the tournament I felt very clear and calm. At my peak mindset I think of one ball at a time. The emotions can take over, but now the job is done.”
But after the job was done, Bumrah said that, like his teammates, he was unable to contain his emotions as they sobbed with happiness.
“Usually I’m the one who tries to keep my emotions in check and get the job done but today I don’t have many words, I don’t usually cry after a game but the emotions are taking over,” he conceded.
Bumrah said he exploited the reverse swing well in the second spell, where he dismissed Jansen.
“That over I thought length ball (against Jansen) was the option, it was reverse-swinging and I was glad to execute,” he added.
