India’s Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

Hero of India’s victorious T20 World Cup campaign, Jasprit Bumrah added another feather to his hat when he was on Tuesday named the ‘ICC Men’s Player of the Month for June’.

It was double delight for India as women’s team vice-captain Smriti Mandhana was also named the ‘Women’s Player of the Month’ by the global body. Mandhana won her first ICC Women’s Player of the Month after playing a starring role in India’s sweep over South Africa in the ODI series last month.

Bumrah came out on top in the men’s vote from compatriot Rohit Sharma and Rahmanullah Gurbaz of Afghanistan, while Mandhana won the women’s award by overcoming England’s Maia Bouchier and Sri Lanka’s Vishmi Gunaratne.

Bumrah, who bagged 15 wickets to be adjudged the Player-of-the-Tournament in the T20 global showpiece last month, also claimed the Men’s Player of the Month accolade for June, the ICC announced.

“I am delighted to be named the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for June,” Bumrah said in the ICC statement.

“It’s a special honour for me following a memorable few weeks spent in the USA and West Indies. We have had a lot to celebrate as a team, and I’m delighted to be able to add this personal accolade to the list.” The 30-year-old was at his dependable best in the USA and Caribbean and bowled at an average of 8.26, at an astonishing economy rate of 4.17.

He joined Virat Kohli (a two-time winner in his own right) as India players to claim the Men’s T20 World Cup Player of the Tournament award.

India were the first team to win the men’s T20 World Cup without losing a game all tournament.

Barring a washout against Canada in the first round, the Rohit Sharma-led India went on to win all eight matches they played in the tournament.

“To perform as well as we did at the tournament and lift the trophy at the end is incredibly special, and I will carry those memories with me forever,” Bumrah said.

“I wish to congratulate my captain Rohit Sharma and Rahmanullah Gurbaz for their excellent performances in the same period, and I am humbled to have been chosen as the winner.” In the women’s game, Mandhana set the tone with a commanding 117 in the first outing in Bengaluru. Despite an early stutter by the hosts in which they fell to 99 for five, Mandhana remained resolute, and benefitted from some lower order resistance to guide India to a formidable score of 265 from their 50 overs, which proved far beyond the Proteas.

Mandhana went one better in the second match, hitting her second successive century and top scoring in a game that saw 646 runs in total. The opener blitzed the South African bowling attack, smashing 136 in 120 balls and in tandem with her captain Harmanpreet Kaur, posted just enough to see off the resurgent visitors.

She came close to sealing a hat-trick of hundreds in the final outing, falling agonizingly on 90 in a stylish effort that ensured India recorded a comfortable victory to close out the series.

During the period, Mandhana recorded 343 runs at an average of 114.33, with a strike rate of over 100, earning her the Player of the Series award.

“I’m really glad to have won the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for June. I’m really happy with the way the team has performed and I’m happy to have contributed.

For us, we won the ODI and the Test series and hopefully we can continue our form and I can further contribute to win more matches for India,” Mandhana said.

India captain Rohit Sharma poses for a picture with the ICC Mens T20 World Cup 2024 trophy at a beach, in Barbados on July 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ANI

The first T20 World Cup featuring 20 Teams will go down in history for several reasons. The tournament ended with Team India ending their ICC trophy drought, securing a seven-run win over first-time finalists South Africa in an edge-of-the-seat thriller at Barbados.

Here is a closer look at some amazing feats and records broken in the West Indies and the USA.

With two unbeaten sides meeting in the final, it was clear that the champion would set a new record for most wins in a tournament. In fact, India and South Africa both finished with eight match wins — with India missing out on a possible victory due to one of their matches (against Canada in the group stage) being a washout.

India’s 176/7 in the final, however, was the highest by any team in the final of a Men’s T20 World Cup — edging past Australia’s 173/2 against New Zealand in 2021.

At the age of 37 years and 60 days, Rohit Sharma became the oldest man to captain a side to T20 World Cup glory, as per ICC. It was a tournament that was great for the bowlers, and both Fazalhaq Farooqi of semifinalists Afghanistan and Arshdeep Singh of champions India took 17 wickets, the most in a single edition, one more than previous record-holder Wanindu Hasaranga of Sri Lanka.

The sensational Jasprit Bumrah of India finished with the best bowling average in an edition, with 8.3 – ahead of Anrich Nortje’s figures of 8.5 in 2022. Bumrah, who also went at an economy of 4.17, was a unanimous decision for the ‘Player of the Tournament’ award.

And it was England’s Chris Jordan who has the record for the best bowling strike rate in a tournament, with 8.3 — ahead of Fazalhaq Farooqi (8.9) and Tabraiz Shamsi (9.2) this year, as well as previous record-holder Jacques Kallis (9.4) from 2012.Jordan claimed four wickets in an unseen quadruple-wicket maiden over against the USA. Curtis Campher, who claimed four wickets in four balls against The Netherlands in 2021, conceded two in his over.

New Zealand fast bowler Lockie Ferguson also created history as the first man to bowl four maiden overs in a T20 World Cup spell. He finished with figures of 3/0 (4) against Papua New Guinea in the Kiwis’ last group-stage match at the tournament.

There was plenty of big hitting as well — and 2024 recorded the most boundaries in an edition of the T20 World Cup thus far, with 1,478, eclipsing 2021’s 1,349. Unsurprisingly, within that, 2024 also had the most sixes — 515, more than 100 more than 2021’s 405.And West Indies’ Nicholas Pooran hit the most sixes in a T20 World Cup — his 17 beating the record of 16 set by his legendary compatriot Chris Gayle.

Kapil Dev during an interview on June 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Iconic former India all-rounder Kapil Dev feels Jasprit Bumrah is a “1000 times better” bowler than what he was at his prime.

Bumrah, who has been doing exceptionally well in the ongoing T20 World Cup, snaring 11 wickets at an outstanding economy of 4.08 in the 23 overs he has bowled so far.

“Bumrah is 1000 times better than me. These young boys are far better than us. We had more experience. They are better,” Kapil told ‘PTI Videos‘.

Bumrah, who is widely regarded as the best pacer in international cricket now, has played 26 Tests for India, picking up 159 wickets and an economy of under three. His 89 ODI appearances have yielded 149 wickets while his T20I wicket count stands at 85 from 68 matches.

Kapil ended his career with a then world record 434 Test wickets and is considered one the best all-rounders of all time who also claimed 253 ODI scalps.

The 65-year-old, who led India to their maiden World Cup title in 1983, also lauded the overall fitness levels of the current national team.

“They are very good. Outstanding. They are fitter. They are much more hardworking. They are fantastic,” he said.

Considered a mentor for the new crop of Indian fast bowlers, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah says he never tries to “over-teach” the younger lot and steps in to help only when asked, to avoid burdening them with information.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Considered a mentor for the new crop of Indian fast bowlers, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah says he never tries to “over-teach” the younger lot and steps in to help only when asked, to avoid burdening them with information.

The 30-year-old Bumrah would be a key player for India in the T20 World Cup, starting in New York on June 1 and he would also be expected to be a guiding force for India’s pace battery, featuring the relatively younger and less experienced Mohammed Siraj and Arshdeep Singh.

“You don’t try to over-teach. That is something that I have learned,” Bumrah told the ICC’s official website for the T20 World Cup.

“Because whenever people need help, I let them have their own questions… Because you don’t want to give too much information,” he said.

Group D | Group C | Group B | Group A

Bumrah said it is important for youngsters to know their path without being burdened with an overkill of information.

“It’s not like they have just been lucky and they land here. So that is what I try to do. I do pass on certain information that I have gained over from my experience,” he said.

“But I don’t try to burden them with (over) information. Because that is a part of the journey as well. That you have to find your own ways and solutions,” he added.

Bumrah has battled a nagging back injury for the past couple of years and it even kept him out of the 2022 T20 World Cup but he has managed to fight through and enjoyed a brilliant run in the 2023 ODI showpiece.

He snared 20 wickets at an average of 18.65 with an economy of just about four in that event. The reticent bowler said his focus since coming back has been to simply enjoy his game.

“Because (certain) things will go my way. (Certain) things will not go my way,” he said.

“All of these things will be a part of my process. So I have just realised that I started playing this sport. Because I love this sport. And I will focus on that rather than the end result.

“So in that aspect you reduce your pressure. And you enjoy the sport. When you focus on those things. Rather than the things you cannot control,” he added.

Bumrah has 74 T20 International wickets, which puts him third in India’s all-time list. He is widely perceived to be the best among the current lot of international pacers when it comes to consistently bowling yorkers.

Australian great Brett Lee has even gone to the extent of saying that Bumrah is the only pacer in the world who is executing the yorker correctly right now.

Bumrah said his consistent yorkers are a result of years of practice.

“So I played a lot of tennis-ball, rubber-ball cricket when I was growing up. I used to play a lot with my friends in summer camps,” he said.

“…I used to think that this is the only way to get wickets. Because I was a fan of fast bowling. I was really fascinated by what I saw on the television. So I tried to replicate that. Is it (tennis-ball cricket) a secret (to bowling yorkers) or not? I don’t know,” Bumrah wondered.

“But repetition surely is. Because I have kept this delivery. I still practice it. I keep on practicing it. Because every skill that you develop, you have to practice it and make it stronger. So I think a combination of both would be the answer.” India are in Group A of the T20 World Cup, along with Pakistan, Ireland, Canada, and the USA. They will begin their campaign against Ireland on June 5.

Legendary Australia speedster Brett Lee feels apart from Jasprit Bumrah, pacers are failing to nail yorkers effectively in the death overs and he wants them to master the pivotal delivery.

Bumrah is one of the most complete bowlers in world cricket at the moment. He can bowl wicket-taking deliveries without leaking runs but the most lethal weapon in his armoury is his toe-crushing yorker, which he, more often that not, executes perfectly in the death overs.

“On a general rule, other than Bumrah, we haven’t seen enough fast bowlers nailing their yorkers recently.

“I want to see fast bowlers bowl more yorkers. I still don’t reckon they execute enough yorkers at the death,” Lee said at the launch of the Legends Intercontinental T20 league recently.

With the recently concluded IPL featuring scores in excess of 200 regularly, Lee believes the fast bowlers would be more economical had they nailed yorkers.

“If you look back at 17 years of Indian Premier League, on average a yorker goes for a strike rate of less than 100. Which tells me that one run or less per bowler that’s executed.

“Now, when you bowl a yorker and you’ve got guys who can go down and scoop you over the head, well that puts pressure on you as a bowler.

“You’ve got to set in the right field and put two men back, third man fine and back and then bowl,” Lee added.

As T20 cricket progresses, the game is tilting more and more towards the batters. With the ‘Impact Player Rule’ and flat decks, bowlers struggled in the IPL.

Lee, like several other former players, called for a balance between bat and ball.

“I’m all for batters smoking the ball all over, but there has got to be something for the bowlers too. I’m not asking for a green top, where teams bowled out for 110, because that’s not good for cricket either.

“You want a good total, I think. Anywhere around that 185 mark to 230 is a good score. We’ve seen scores now of 265, 270, 277.

“It’s really hard because most bowlers now are going for 45 to 50 off their four overs.” he said.

‘Warner has earned the right to go on his own terms’

Australia’s charismatic young batter Jake Fraser-McGurk set the stage ablaze in his debut IPL season with many calling for his inclusion in Australia’s T20 World Cup squad.

However, the selectors decided to go with veteran opener David Warner, who is set to retire after the tournament, Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh in the top-order.

McGurk, who is a top order batter and Warner’s Delhi Capitals teammate, though has been named as a travelling reserve.

“David Warner has earned that right to go out on his own terms. And if things don’t happen for whatever reason, then he’s (McGurk) definitely there to take part,” Lee said.

Although Warner did not have a particularly great IPL as he missed several matches due to an injury, the Southpaw has scored 834 runs in T20 cricket since 2021 at a strike rate of around 150.

He was woefully out of form ahead of the 2021 T20 World Cup but ended up being the player of the tournament, playing a vital role in Australia’s maiden World Cup win in the shortest format.

On the other hand, 22-year-old McGurk, who was called in as a replacement for Lungi Ngidi at Delhi Capitals, gave an excellent display of explosive batsmanship, smashing four half-centuries in nine games at an astronomical strike rate exceeding 234.

“I think if you go over there as a reserve batsman, you definitely have a chance to get an opportunity.

“That happened this year with the Delhi Capitals, he wasn’t even picked in the squad.

“Ricky Ponting rang him up late night and said come in and had a few injuries. So right time, right place.

“But the advice to him, and he articulated it beautifully to say that he’s only 22 years of age (araam se araam se) . He’s got time. There’s no point rushing it,” Lee said.

Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has nothing but empathy for Hardik Pandya as he navigates a challenging phase in his career and is hopeful that the all-rounder, who “hasn’t been a free man in the last two months”, will become one during next month’s T20 World Cup.

Pandya endured a forgettable IPL both as captain and player with his team Mumbai Indians ending bottom of the heap in the points table. What made things worse was the incessant jeering of fans whenever he took the field, including at MI’s home turf — the Wankhede Stadium.

Also read | ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2024: full schedule, dates and venues

But Harbhajan expects the tide to turn in the Americas during the T20 showpiece.

“When he wears that blue jersey, he will be a different Hardik Pandya because we know he can score those runs and take those wickets. I want Hardik to come good as he has gone through a lot and I wish him all the very best to have a very good tournament for India,” Harbhajan told PTI in an exclusive interview.

“If he has a good tournament, obviously India will have a great chance to go forward,” he said.

“Yes, his form is a bit of a concern…and lot of other stuff was going on around him, his shifting from Gujarat to Mumbai, was a big change and the team (MI) didn’t react too well to Hardik coming back and that too as captain,” the 43-year-old added.

The reason for the fan backlash against Pandya was MI’s decision to hand him the captaincy after taking it away from the long-serving Rohit Sharma.

There was speculation throughout the season that MI’s dressing room was a divided house due to the change of guard. Rohit will now captain the national side with Pandya as his deputy in the World Cup starting June 1.

Harbhajan, a multi format World Cup-winner, urged the team management to bring Pandya and Rohit on “same page”.

“…it looked like they (MI) were not playing together as a team. So there was a lot going on. Hardik wasn’t a free man in the last two months. I believe both of them and many others who have played in different teams will have to come together to do something special for the nation…,” he said.

“Winning a World Cup is a bigger achievement than winning an IPL trophy, so I would urge the management to bring everyone together, have them on one page and make sure they play like one.

“I believe it’s the responsibility of the management to come together, and win together. Even if they lose they should be losing together.”

Bumrah will need support

Jasprit Bumrah is the only speedster among the chosen three (the other two being Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj), who doesn’t need conditions to be successful, feels Harbhajan.

“Pace attack definitely could be a concern because because Bumrah is in a different league for the kind of bowler he is. He will win you games on any kind of pitch. He doesn’t need conditions whereas other bowlers like Arshdeep and Siraj would need help from conditions.

“If there’s bounce, Siraj might do well. He is tall, can also swing it both ways, hits the deck hard and has got pace. But if wickets are slow then the challenge begins for other bowlers.

“There will be lot of responsibility on Bumrah’s shoulders but I hope other guys also take responsibility to be someone special.”

IPL performances won’t matter

Harbhajan said IPL form would make no difference to the players’ fortunes in the ICC showpiece.

“No matter what you have done in your IPL career or previously, this is what counts the most…if I was in their shoes, I would be looking for this opportunity to showcase that I have been better than what I have been doing,” the ‘Turbanator’ stated.

Virat is a changed T20 batter

Harbhajan was mighty impressed with how Virat Kohli tweaked his T20 game during this year’s IPL by adding shots to his repertoire, which drastically improved his strike rate.

“Virat has shown a lot of improvement from last year to this year and people spoke about his strike rate. It was in 130s during last year and this time it is in 160s,” he said.

“Of course it’s a big big change. Virat and Rohit will have to score quickly in Powerplay but also need to respect the conditions in USA and West Indies.”

If Gambhir becomes coach

Harbhajan doesn’t know whether Gautam Gambhir, who is being spoken of as the favourite to take over India’s head coach position from the outgoing Rahul Dravid, will get the job but he does believe it would be a crown of thorns for whoever chooses to wear it.

“If I say it properly, it is a speculation, which is doing rounds…the biggest thing a coach can do is to bring everyone together, so that team plays together. So, whether Gautam becomes coach or Ashish Nehra, or whosoever gets the opportunity, hope they do better than what others before them did.” He also ruled himself out of the race.

“I don’t think I will be able to give that much time. At this stage of my life I have a young family and I need to be around them and look after them. Yes, when the right time comes, I will put my foot forward and say I am ready for it,” he concluded.

Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah celebrates after taking wicket of Abhishek Sharma during the IPL match between MI and Sunrises Hyderabad at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on May 6, 2024.
| Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI

Mumbai Indians have no plans to rest ace India pacer Jasprit Bumrah ahead of the T20 World Cup even though they are out of contention for the IPL playoffs, said batting coach Kieron Pollard.

MI defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets here on Monday after Suryakumar Yadav (102 not out) struck his second IPL century to help his team chase down a target of 174 with 16 balls to spare.

The win helped MI end their four-match losing streak and record only their fourth win in 12 matches.

“I certainly haven’t had any discussions about that,” Pollard told media after the game when asked if there are any plans to rest Bumrah from MI’s remaining two matches keeping in mind the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Also Read: IPL-17 | Technology comes to the rescue of practice pitches at Dharamshala

“I don’t think that’s my role and function at this point in time. But let’s see what happens. We are all here to play an entire IPL. Sometimes when we think too far ahead of different things, thinking about World Cups, all these things could affect performances even from before the team was selected.

“For us and in our camp, the most important thing is finishing off the IPL and let’s see what happens after that. When he leaves the IPL and he goes into the Indian team, I think that’s where that concession will take place.”

MI’s last IPL game is against Lucknow Super Giants at home on May 17. The T20 World Cup, to be co-hosted by USA and the West Indies, will begin on June 1.

Pollard said as a batting coach the most difficult aspect of coaching an all-round batter like Suryakumar is to curb his attacking instinct.

“He’s one, who, by nature, instinctively, is very aggressive. He wants to take the bowler’s on more often than not. At times it’s just a matter of understanding the situation and respecting the new ball when it’s moving around,” Pollard said.

“If the conditions are not suitable for a certain amount of shot making, having that discipline in order to be there for a period of time and they’ll get into your work.

“I think that would be the hardest thing — to try to curb the attacking instinct. But it’s not something you want to curb too much and get them in a defensive frame of mind because of the direction the sport is heading now in terms of the amount of runs being scored.”

SRH’s assistant coach Helmot doffs his hat to Suryakumar

SRH’s assistant coach Simon Helmot said Suryakumar played an exceptional innings to take the game away from his side and the world No 1 T20I batter will have a lot of influence in the T20 World Cup.

“On some days you just have to take your hat off and say well played and well played to him. He’s an exceptional cricketer and he’s always going to demand a spot in the Indian team and I’m sure he’ll have an influence in the World Cup,” he said.

“It’s very difficult (to bowl at Suryakumar) and you guys have seen him close up for many years as I have. He’s a very difficult batsman to match up with when he’s in that sort of frame of mind, that sort of mood.” Helmot said the conditions assisted swing bowling with the new ball in both the innings which forced the batters to adjust their game.

“Travis (Head) has been one of our best players this season at the top of the order. But even he found it difficult at times to time the ball out in the middle on this particular track and that will happen at different times during the season,” he said.

Helmot said not losing their fourth spot in the IPL points table was the biggest positive for SRH in a resounding defeat.

“The positives are that we’re still fourth in the ladder. It’s a really tight competition; one of the tightest competitions we’ve had in IPL for years that I can remember,” he said.

“For us, we’ve got our very first fly tomorrow (Tuesday) and then play the next day against Lucknow (on Wednesday). For us, it’s (about) very quickly get through over this game,” he added.

It is possible that even as you read this, the first score of 300-plus in an IPL innings might have been made already. Nepal’s 314 for three against Mongolia is the record in a T20International, but franchise cricket is of a higher standard.

Already the 100-mark in the first PowerPlay has been crossed. Six-hitting, the basis of all tall scores, might still be exciting but only just. Repetition is beginning to suck the thrill out of it. As the poet W.H. Auden said, the eye is bored by repetition. In fact, repetition doesn’t create memories.

The IPL is being played for the 17th time, which means there are enough batters who first took to the game when they were in the first grade or so, and have grown with it.

Inevitable

We no longer gasp at 20-plus runs in an over, 24 sixes in an innings or 42 in a match. When Will Jacks takes just 10 deliveries to move from 50 to 100, it is merely interesting, not astounding. Someone, we tell ourselves, was bound to do it sooner or later. The more often such records are broken, the more inevitable it looks; unexpectedness, the essence of competition, is being replaced by inevitability. You can have too much of a good thing.

There aren’t too many angles left unexplored by either batter or bowler. Fielders on the boundary don’t worry the hitter who aims to strike into the crowd. Even the great Jasprit Bumrah has been taken for 18 in a single over. What might cause a sharp intake of breath might actually be a forward defence or a batter letting a ball go through to the wicket keeper unharmed. That might suggest a cosmic disturbance.

Hundreds by Will Jacks (41 balls) and Travis Head (in 39) merely seem to be preparation for a 25-ball century. Traditional statistics have become meaningless. When Delhi Capitals’ Jake Fraser-McGurk made a 27-ball 84 against Mumbai Indians, the significant statistic was not the strike rate of 311, but the fact that of the 104 deliveries he faced, he attempted boundaries off 77. So here’s a new metric: aggressive shot percentage.

Is the end of T20 near?

But does all this lead up to one conclusion: that the end of T20 is approaching faster than predicted? Theoretically, a team could hit each of the 120 deliveries it receives for six, and that would be that.

At the start of the previous century, physicists spoke about the end of physics, as if there was nothing remaining to be discovered. That was just before the quantum revolution and the opening of new pathways. The political philosophers who emphasised the end of history are discovering that they spoke too soon.

Perhaps the approaching death of the T20 is an exaggeration. The future of the format is in the hands of the bowlers. It is likely that batting will peak, reaching a stage beyond which it cannot progress (at least for a while) as the bowlers reassert themselves.

There is too the question of human limit, a question that pops up every Olympic year. If the rule-makers are enlightened, there will be an attempt to create a level playing field even if it means giving the bowler the greater advantage.

Perhaps a batter might be declared leg before even if the ball pitches outside the line of the leg stump. Perhaps the benefit of the doubt will always go in favour of the bowler. Perhaps the two best bowlers might be allowed to bowl six overs each in an innings. All this just for the shortest format of the game, of course. Once it is accepted in theory that bowlers need help, there are always possibilities.

A recent cartoon doing the rounds on social media summed up the bowlers’ plight well. It shows a bunch of bowlers led by Mitchell Starc carrying banners saying things like ‘Stop the Batriarchy’, ‘Bowlers Matter’ and ‘Abolish the Impact Substitute’. Like the best jokes, these reveal important truths.

Bowlers are not supporting acts. As the great Erapalli Prasanna said recently, “You can say all you want about batting, but a match does not begin till someone bowls.”

IPL cricket may be ‘progressing’ too quickly for its own good.

Former India star Yuvraj Singh feels that the batting of swashbuckling Suryakumar Yadav and bowling of pace ace Jasprit Bumrah to be key to the team’s prospects for the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup.
| Photo Credit: Ravi Choudhary

Former India star Yuvraj Singh has identified the swashbuckling Suryakumar Yadav and pace ace Jasprit Bumrah as key to the team’s prospects in the upcoming T20 World Cup owing to their ability to “change the complexion of a game” in a jiffy.

Yuvraj, who was pivotal to India’s title triumph in the inaugural edition of the tournament back in 2007, said Suryakumar will need to have a good outing for the team to win the cup for the second time while also suggesting that Bumrah needs to be at his best.

“Suryakumar Yadav (is India’s key player),” Yuvraj was quoted as saying by ICC.

He added, “Because the way he plays, he can change the complexion of a game in 15 balls. And he is definitely a surety… for India to win this T20 World Cup, Surya is going to be the key.

“I think Jasprit Bumrah is also the key with the bowling and I would like to see a leg-spinner in the squad as well, like Yuzvendra Chahal as he has been bowling really well.

“But being a batter, I would say Suryakumar Yadav (is the key player).” While dissecting the options of who should be India’s first-choice wicket-keeper, Yuvraj expressed satisfaction with veteran Dinesh Karthik’s form in the IPL but said if he is not part of the playing XI, there is no point picking the 38-year-old in the squad as the younger Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson have been playing extremely well.

“DK (Karthik) has been batting well, but the thing with DK is that the last time (2022) they picked him and the T20 WC was on he didn’t get to play,” Yuvraj noted.

“If DK is not in your XI I don’t think there is any point in picking him. There is Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson and both guys are in great form and obviously they are younger.

“I would like to see DK in the mix, but if he is not going to play then you would rather have someone who is younger and can make the difference.”

Rohit and Virat have earned the right to decide on their future

Yuvraj knows just how important Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are to India’s fortunes in the T20 showpiece and refused to put an end date on when he thinks the duo should retire from international cricket.

Instead, Yuvraj suggested that Rohit and Kohli should consider giving up on playing T20I cricket after the T20 World Cup and concentrate on other formats.

“As you get older people start talking about your age and they forget about your form,” Yuvraj stated.

“These guys have been great players for India and they deserve to go (retire) when they want.

“I would like to see more younger players in the T20 format, because it gets the load off them (experienced players) playing 50-over (ODIs) and Test matches. After this (T20) World Cup I would like to see a lot of younger guys come into the team and make the T20 side for the next World Cup.”

Dube is the future star

Yuvraj picked Chennai Super Kings left-hander Shivam Dube as one player that he wants to see in the squad, thanks to his explosive batting.

“I would like to see Shivam Dube in the squad,” he said.

“He has been in and out of the (Indian) team, but this IPL he has been batting very well and he is someone who can be the game-changer.

“There are a lot of other guys who have been playing for a while now, but I would like to see Shivam Dube in the mix,” he added.

Punjab Kings’ Ashutosh Sharma plays a shot during their match against Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, in Chandigarh on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Punjab Kings’ batting sensation Ashutosh Sharma said he lived a “dream” when he swept “world’s best fast bowler” Jasprit Bumrah during his team’s IPL clash against Mumbai Indians here.

The 25-year-old Ashutosh put the Bumrah-led Mumbai Indians’ bowling to sword here on Thursday when he hammered seven sixes and two fours to make 61 off a mere 28 balls, a knock which brought PBKS back from the brink after an early collapse.

PBKS were 17/4 inside the powerplay but courtesy the stunning fightback from Ashutosh and Shashank Singh (41), they were able to get close to MI’s 193-run target before losing by nine runs.

It was in the 13th over of Punjab’s chase when Ashutosh got down low on his front to convert an attempted yorker from Bumrah into a full toss and smack it for a six over backward square leg.

“It was my dream to hit a sweep shot against Bumrah. I was practising for that shot but it came against the best bowler in the world – it is a part of the game,” Ashutosh told the media here after the match.

Ashutosh said he was confident of taking Punjab over the line.

“I had belief in myself that I would be able to win the game for the team,” he said.

Ashutosh credited former India player and coach Sanjay Bangar, head of cricket development at PBKS, for his improvement this season.

“Sanjay sir told me that I am not a slogger and that I can play proper cricket shots. It was a small statement but carried a huge meaning for me. I am only following it – I am not a hard-hitter, I am playing proper cricketing shots and that is what has changed my game,” Ashutosh said.

“Back home, I was working with my coach Amay Khurasiya who had told me that the longer you stay on the pitch, the more your team has a chance of winning,” he added.

The right-handed batter, who made some gestures towards the PBKS dugout after completing his fifty, said the celebrations were meant for his team management.

“That celebration was for our Sanjay (Bangar) sir, I have been working a lot with him and I keep asking him questions,” Ashutosh said.

“He gave me a chance, and also the entire Punjab team which showed belief in me. Our head coach Trevor Bayliss, Ashish (Tuli) paaji, Shikhar (Dhawan) paaji, everyone believed in me, so it was for all of them,” he added.

Punjab slumped to their fifth defeat in seven matches as well as to the ninth spot in the points table, but Ashutosh said his side has been playing well.

“Winning and losing are part of the game. How you are playing is something that matters and we are playing well as a team. If we will play well, we will win,” he said.

Mumbai Indians’ pacer Gerald Coetzee conceded his side was tense after Ashutosh’s stunning onslaught.

“He really brought it to us. We just wanted to be really clear tactically what we wanted to do. We executed really well to him in the back end to shut it down and win the game,” the South African bowler said.

“But it was tense, as I think everyone saw. But it was just all tactical discussions,” he added.

Coetzee conceded Mumbai Indians could’ve been better with their slower balls, something that PBKS used perfectly in the first half.

“We just really learned from their innings. We adapted our plans and I think it worked,” Coetzee added.