Brian Lara reflected on the bowling performance of Jasprit Bumrah-starrer Mumbai Indians after Chennai Super Kings secured a famous win in the IPL Clasico.
With legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar castigating Hardik Pandya following his unimpressive performance against MS Dhoni-starrer Chennai Super Kings, batting icon Brian Lara shifted his focus to the misfiring bowling attack of the Mumbai Indians in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League. The former West Indies skipper opined that premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah needs more support in the MI bowling department.
Beyond Bumrah, there is no one to support MI in the bowling attack, said Lara after the Clasico(ANI-BCCI)
Speedster Bumrah had a forgetful day at the office as the Indian fast bowler returned wicketless against Chennai Super Kings in the first El Clasico of the IPL 2024 at the Wankhede. Bumrah bowled four overs and leaked 27 runs against the defending champions in match No.29 of the IPL 2024 on Sunday. Instead of complementing Bumrah, MI skipper Pandya ended up conceding 26 runs in the final over of the CSK innings.
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‘Beyond Jasprit Bumrah, there is no one’
“Not much, I think when we look at Mumbai Indians, a lot of people have them as favourites, simply because they were batting so well, they scored 230 runs, they chased on 196, made it look very easy, 15 overs, so on that fact I think, we pick them as favourites. But their bowling is poor. Beyond Jasprit Bumrah, there is no one to actually support them in that bowling attack, and the CSK batters took them apart,” Lara told Star Sports.
Mumbai used 7 bowlers against CSK in Clasico
MI deployed seven bowlers in the high-scoring Clasico against Chennai Super Kings. Though skipper Pandya picked up two wickets, the MI skipper was hammered for 43 runs in his three overs. Pacer Akash Madhwal also bowled three overs and failed to pick a single wicket against the five-time winners. Mohammad Nabi opened the MI attack against CSK and the spinner leaked six runs in his first over. Shreyas Gopal bagged Rachin Ravindra’s wicket in his first over. However, MI refused to use their spinners after the eighth over.
‘Spinners weren’t trusted with Shivam Dube’
“The spinners, they only bowled 4 overs after around 7 runs an over, but they weren’t trusted with Shivam Dube out there. So, MI will have to improve in that area, they’ve got to find a couple of bowlers, match-winning bowlers. What it tells me more about this game is that, if you’ve got a good bowling unit, like CSK, you look at their bowling, every single bowler played a part in that game, every single bowler. We had dot balls at the time, we thought that Mumbai Indians were supposed to accelerate, they didn’t,” Lara added.
