Jasprit Bumrah should have been the Player of the Match in semi-final: Irfan Pathan

Former India pacer Irfan Pathan has reckoned that the Player of the Match award following India’s triumph over England in the T20 World Cup semi-final should have gone to Jasprit Bumrah instead of Sanju Samson. 

Bumrah was tasked to bowl the 16th and the 18th over by captain Suryakumar Yadav and the 32-year-old duly obliged, conceding just 14 runs when England needed upwards of 12 runs an over. The Mumbai Indians star ended the game with figures of 1 for 33 as India secured a seven-run win to book their place in the showpiece final. 

Despite Bumrah’s best efforts with the ball, Samson was declared the Player of the Match which Pathan disagreed with. 

“Look, according to me, Jasprit Bumrah should have been the Man of the Match because if you have seen this match, every bowler apart from Bumrah went at an economy of 10 to 15 runs per over in a game where close to 500 runs are scored on a flat wicket. The one who does the difficult task should be the Man of the Match and he bowls all the difficult overs,” Pathan said on his YouTube channel. 

“I will say it again. We are lucky that a player like Jasprit Bumrah plays for India, someone who has got everything from yorker, slower one, outswing, inswing and knows how to ball under pressure. The ability that Bumrah possesses to control the nerves, come in during a difficult phase of the game and win India the game, I think we are very lucky,” he added. 

Pathan, however, does not take anything away from Samson’s incredible innings of 89 from 42 balls. The 41-year-old believes that a bowler should be awarded the accolade when the conditions are in favour of the batter. 

“I am happy that Sanju Samson was given the Man of the Match. However, when the pitch is flat, a bowler should get the Man of the Match award and when the pitch is difficult, the batter should get the award, Pathan said. 

Bumrah has taken 10 wickets in the ongoing T20 World Cup at an outstanding economy rate of just 6.62.