If Jasprit Bumrah had not been there, I don't think we could have won this game: Aakash Chopra

Former Indian cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra has heaped praise on the Indian ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who bowled an economical spell in England’s 254-run chase in the second semi-final against England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra asserted that Bumrah bowled all the difficult overs and came out with flying colours, restricting England batters below the required run rate in all of his four overs. He went on to add that had Bumrah not been part of the game, India would’ve failed to make it to the final. 

"You say genius, I say Bumrah. What a guy he is. He is a four-over bank. In bat vs bat contests, one bowling spell changes everything. You would say Hardik Pandya's spell was also similar, so how is Bumrah better than Hardik? It's because Bumrah bowled all the difficult overs," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

He bowls two overs in the end, one over in the middle, and one in the powerplay. There is truly no one like Jassi. He made us realize that once again. If he had not been there, I don't think we could have won this game. We wouldn't have won the last trophy as well, and wouldn't have come so close to this trophy," he added.

Furthermore, Chopra reckoned that the all-rounder Hardik Pandya could have been the player of the match for bowling an equally good spell on a flat track. Moreover, he hailed Pandya for giving a proper finish to India’s innings to take the total past 250.

"I thought Hardik Pandya could have been the Player of the Match, or he could have shared the award. Sanju actually came and said that Bumrah should have been the Player of the Match. We believe in Jassi bhai, Siraj said that, and Sanju is also saying that," he noted.

"Firstly, the way Hardik Pandya finished the innings. When you look back, you feel a strong finish was extremely necessary. If you had not done that, we wouldn't have reached 250. Then Phil Salt's wicket. It was an important wicket. Between Jos Buttler and Salt, Salt had slightly better form," he concluded.

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