“It feels extremely special because I played one final at my home venue and couldn’t win that one,” Bumrah said after winning the Player-of-the-Final award. “But this one feels really special. I was really motivated, I was really clear, I knew what I wanted to do.
“The wicket was a flat one, so I played all my cricket here, so I used all my experience. Today was a wonderful day when all the execution went as per plan. So yeah, really happy, really grateful, God is really kind.”
Bumrah came into the attack after three overs and bowled two overs in the powerplay, picking up figures of 2-0-9-1 to dent New Zealand in their steep chase of 256. On a flat pitch in Ahmedabad, Bumrah bowled a slower cutter with his first ball and had Rachin Ravindra holing out for 1, just like he had got England’s captain Harry Brook in the semi-final. Ravindra was searching for pace on the ball, but Bumrah denied him with a 121kph delivery, which was mis-hit to deep square leg where Ishan Kishan pulled off a spectacular catch.
“Because I’ve played on belters over here, I have also seen the other team, how they were bowling… I have learnt over here when you are trying to bowl too fast, it gets easier,” Bumrah said. “Shot-making gets easier, sometimes the ball skids on [to the bat], so keep being smart, keep changing your pace and expect what the batsman is trying to do. So all of these things really help you and clarity while execution also helps.”
Bumrah credited the rest of the bowling attack for staying cool under pressure. In the final, Bumrah was supported by Axar Patel, who took 3 for 27 in his three overs, and Hardik Pandya, who claimed the wicket of Mark Chapman.
“Oh it was really wonderful, everybody is very clear,” Bumrah said. “Whenever we have discussed, they always come up with their options and whenever there is some communication that is needed, we always did that. We kept calm, we were never panicking, even if sometimes in the tournament the games got close like the last one, we never panicked.
“We always felt that we will keep our head above the water and try to hold our nerve, teams that do that win the tournament and we are very happy that we did it.”
