Follow UsDespite playing his first competitive match in three months, Jasprit Bumrah emerged as Mumbai Indians (MI)’s best bowler in Match 20 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Wankhede Stadium on April 7 (Monday).
Having fully recovered from his back injury that he sustained during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, Bumrah returned with figures of 0/29 in four overs. MI conceded 221 against RCB and Bumrah was the only bowler with an economy of less than 10.
"I just spoke to him after the game and he looks in good nick. He's disappointed as well. He wanted a win when he came back. But other than that, he looks fine. I think the pace was up, the execution was good,” said MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene.
Bumrah was introduced into the attack in the fourth over, with Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar starting the proceedings for MI. The ace paceman only bowled one over in the powerplay and Jayawardene said the idea was to ease him into the 20-over format.
"I think we got two swing bowlers, we need to give them that opportunity first up. Boom's coming back from a three-month lay-off as well. So we just wanted to ease him into the competition, but he bowled well and he controlled things really well.
“The more he starts playing, (getting) game time, he'll get into it. The last time he was playing a Test match, all of a sudden he's playing a T20. So we need to understand that. The skills were brilliant but there are areas for us to improve.
"(Having Bumrah back) just gives us more options. Yesterday was his first day where he bowled to batsmen. From that confidence, that's something that we lacked in the last few games. We have that as well, but we just need to put all these pieces together and execute a good game to give us confidence so that we can move on."
Mumbai have lost four of their five games and are currently placed at No.8 on the points table. They will next take on in-form Delhi Capitals in an away fixture on April 13.