Suryakumar Yadav, the victorious captain of India, referred to Jasprit Bumrah as a “national treasure” on Sunday, using the most fitting superlative for the magical pacer following his outstanding bowling performance in the T20 World Cup.
Suryakumar’s team became the first to win consecutive World T20 titles and the first to take home the trophy after defeating New Zealand by 96 runs in the final in Ahmedabad.
“Bumrah is a once-in a generation bowler. I can call him a national treasure. He knows how it needs to be done, he is the best in the business,” PTI quoted Suryakumar saying at the post-match presentation ceremony.
After the hosts had scored an impressive 255/5 in their 20 overs, Bumrah’s outstanding stats of 4/15 from his four overs, including 12 dot balls, helped India bowl out New Zealand for 159.
“I think it’ll take a little bit of time but definitely very happy. Been a long journey. Started post the 2024 World Cup. Jay Shah, Rohit bhai, they all showed faith in me and gave me opportunity to lead. From there it’s been a long journey and coming here and winning it,” Suryakumar said.
The captain gave his players a lot of credit for stepping up to assist the team reach previously unheard-of levels of success.
“We have been playing good cricket in the last two years and we just wanted to follow the good cricketing habits that we had in the 2024 World Cup. Boys took it really well.”
Regarding having faith in his teammates, the captain stated, “I think it’s really important to understand what they are capable of. And I knew they had the match winners in them. The timing was perfect. Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma they are top players and we knew they would do something special, and they did it in the final.”
Ishan Kishan continued the good work with his blazing half-century in the middle overs after Sanju Samson (89 off 46 balls) and Abhishek Sharma (52 off 21 balls) added 92 in Powerplay and 98 for the opening stand.
