Follow UsPunjab Kings were 35/1 in four overs chasing 204 to reach the final of the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Josh Inglis was the batter on crease, and Jasprit Bumrah had the ball in hand. What happened next was spellbinding as Inglis smashed Bumrah all around the ground for 20 runs in that over.
Not only had that over saved PBKS’s powerplay as they ended with 64/2 in six overs, but it threw Bumrah off his length, and the ace pacer conceded 0/40 in four overs, which is uncharacteristic of him.
“The way Josh Inglis attacked Boom [Bumrah] up front to get him off his game a little bit,” PBKS bowling coach James Hopes said in the post-match press conference.
“If you'd told us we were chasing 200 at the start of the day and we were going to take 40 off Jasprit, we would have taken that every day of the week and liked our chances. Josh has got a pretty good record against him in short-form cricket. He plays him well.”
Hopes added that it wasn’t a conscious decision from Inglis to target Bumrah, but rather something instantaneous, which ended up helping PBKS massively.
"I don't think it was a conscious decision to go after [Bumrah in that] over,” the former Australian cricketer added.
“He just got some balls and he put them away, and on another day, those balls go to the fielder and he's not taking what he did off that over. So doing that to him in the first over not only has a flow-on effect for his bowling but has a flow-on effect for the rest of their team as well.
"We were having the chats at half-time that if Bumrah bowls four overs for 26, what do we need off the other 16 overs? So there's just an expectation he's going to be at a certain level every game, and even tonight he bowled well."
Meanwhile, the PBKS coach also heaped praise on skipper Shreyas Iyer, who not only scored 87* off just 41 deliveries in the chase to take his team to the final, but also led them astutely on the field.
“He [Iyer] doesn't get flustered very easily and he knows his match-ups," Hopes said.
"He knows what he has to do at certain times and he's prepared to take that risk. When he was a younger player in Delhi, he was a little bit more explosive and gung-ho, but he scores at a high strike rate now strictly because he knows when a bowler comes on that that's his match-up and he's going to take it and with his captaincy.
"Tonight we kept them to 200 when I reckon they could have got 220, 230 and just because the way he pulls the strings out there and manoeuvres bowlers around. We had [Vijaykumar] Vyshak with one over left. He took his gut call to bowl Azmat. He's a sensational captain and he's a sensational player."
PBKS will now face Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the final on June 3.