Facing the Mumbai Indians and Jasprit Bumrah is a daunting task for any batter. Countless teams and players have fallen victim to Bumrah’s lethal bowling. However, in a match between MI and Royal Challengers Bengaluru two years ago, a young RCB talent defied the odds and showed exceptional batting skill against the five-time champions and their star bowler.
Flashback to IPL 2022, match No. 18, venue the MCA Stadium in Pune. MI, on the back of a three-match losing streak, were desperate to arrest their slide. Batting first, Suryakumar Yadav, the form that he was in, top-scored with 68 to guide them to 151/6, but any hopes of defending the total were extinguished early on as RCB got off to a flying start, reaching 50/0 in eight overs. Surprisingly, newly-appointed captain Faf du Plessis had contributed just 16 runs in that partnership, while young Anuj Rawat did bulk of the scoring.
Rawat, joined by Virat Kohli, stitched a partnership of 80 as the two all but sealed the win for RCB. During his innings, Rawat had just one concern: How to tackle Bumrah? Fortunately for him, leading up to the match, he had it covered thanks to RCB batting coach Sanjay Bangar, who had served Indian cricket for years and had observed Bumrah from closer quarters, better than most. The move paid dividend as Rawat, then 22, scored 66 off 47 balls including two fours and 6 sixes.
“Before that game against Mumbai Indians, our coach Sanjay [Bangar] sir had already sounded me off. He said ‘Agar Bumrah aaya, kya lagta hai, kya ball daalega? Kya karega? (What do you think Bumrah will bowl to you? What will he do?)’ I said, ‘He’ll bowl full, the length to flick the ball’. He said ‘Yes’, and literally that was the ball he bowled to me. He targeted my legs, but I worked it away for a couple of runs,” Rawat told India’s Under-19 World Cup winner Manjot Kalra on his podcast.
“As for the knock, the fifty gave me a lot of confidence and what made it special was when I got there, Virat Kohli was at the non-striker end. I had already played 3-4 games before that, but the comfort level got better and you get to know that we now belong here.”
Rawat was nervous facing Bumrah
It’s one thing to do your homework, completely a different ball game when it’s time to implement. And that was the exact thought running through Rawat’s mind when he was about to face Bumrah. Rawat faced 10 balls from Bumrah and scored seven runs off him, two leg-byes not included. But despite looking at ease against the best fast bowler in the world, Rawat admitted he felt the jitters.
“I had never faced him before. That was the first time. I was nervous for sure, probably 200 percent nervous I would say. Like I said, Sanjay sir had already gotten me prepared, so I was settled but still, when you see Bumrah coming in, it does hit you a little,” the youngster said.
