Mumbai Indians will take on the Punjab Kings in Qualifier 2.
Former Mumbai Indians (MI) batter Aaron Finch was in awe of Jasprit Bumrah when he knocked off the leg-stump of the Gujarat Titans (GT) all-rounder Washington Sundar in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 Eliminator. With this accurate yorker, the MI pacer not only ended Sundar’s innings (48 runs off 24 balls) but also posed a threat to the hopes of GT to make it to Qualifier 2.
“For him to bowl from that angle is really difficult. It’s easier for him to go wide to a left-hand batter. But for him to actually target that leg stump of Washington Sundar… Washy was setting up for something wide or something in his arc, but that was just impossible to negotiate,” he said to ESPN Cricinfo.
The former Rajasthan Royals player spoke about the 31-year-old’s calibre to turn around the match in his team’s favour from any situation. He also emphasised how Bumrah took over the pressure from MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene when GT needed 78 runs off 39 deliveries to win the clash, with eight wickets in hand.
“If you want wickets, he comes and gets you wickets. If you want to stop runs, he stops runs for you. Man, what a bowler. And the belief he has in his ability. You have an international coach who is obviously panicking because his bowlers have suddenly started to go to the cleaners, and he just turns around and is like ‘Just calm down, I’ll do the job for you’. Comes in, runs in, gets hit for a six and then gets that ball,” he added.
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Shortly after this wicket, MI pacer Richard Gleeson dismissed GT’s pillar of the chase, Sai Sudharsan, in the 16th over. No other Titans’ batter could continue the momentum after Sudharsan’s blazing 80 runs off 49 balls. Eventually, GT failed to chase the mammoth total of 228 and lost the match by 20 runs.
After sustaining a back injury during the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) Series 2024-25, Bumrah missed India’s Champions Trophy 2025 campaign and the initial four matches of MI. However, the pacer has made a quick and lethal comeback since then in the ongoing IPL 2025.
He has scalped 18 wickets in 11 matches in this tournament so far. Bumrah has also maintained an impressive economy of just 6.37 and bagged a four-wicket haul this season against the Lucknow Super Giants.
With this scintillating win over GT, Hardik Pandya and Co. made it to Qualifier 2. They will next clash with the Punjab Kings on June 1 to seal a place in the IPL 2025 final.
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