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Jasprit Bumrah says no – by Jarrod Kimber

Jasprit Bumrah says no – by Jarrod Kimber

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Jasprit Bumrah took the wicket of Harry Brook with his first delivery.

He held the ball like it would seam up, right until the last moment.

And then suddenly, he moved his fingers down the side of it.

It was right at the end, with no prompts.

It also says a lot that he would start his spell with a cutter. Sometimes bowlers do this on a wicket that is made for those balls, but this wasn’t that. In the previous innings, plenty of slower balls had gone the distance, and this was also a fairly new nut.

But he realised that Brook would expect pace on, and so at the very last moment, he took it off.

Harry Brook has seen cutters all over the world, but this one completely stuffs him. His hands fly through the ball, and he spoons it straight up in the air.

England players don’t need much help to play with hard hands, but it’s still unusual for a player to make an error this big. The fact that it finishes with a great outfield catch from Axar Patel just makes it even better.

For most players, this is what they would be remembered for on a day like this – completely embarrassing one of the best batters in the world with your very first delivery.

But Jasprit Bumrah’s best moment was simply an over that denied England a T20 World Cup final.

Bumrah just said no.

***

With 45 needed from 18 balls, Sam Curran went deep into his crease to find leverage to hit big. In fact, he almost stood on his stumps.

Because of that, Bumrah actually misses his length slightly, but not really enough for Curran to smash the ball down the ground. So he digs it out; his second option is to get Bethell back on strike.

He makes decent contact and thinks there is a single down to long-on, but Bumrah poaches the ball himself and stops the run. An entire delivery from England’s chase has just been erased by two Bumrah moments.

This tournament he hasn’t actually been in his best form. But when you look at true economy, he was still three runs an over better than expected – even before this match. Maybe he’s not quite fully fit. He doesn’t always look in great rhythm.

So imagine what he would look like if he was in form.

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