Much of the credit of India’s opening day victory at the 2019 World Cup on Wednesday at Southampton went to Rohit Sharma who scored a well deserved century. But Yuzvendra Chahal and Jaspreet Bumrah played their part in restricting the Proteas to a total of 228.
While Bumrah, playing his 50th ODI, delivered on the biggest stage with figures of 2/35 by the end of his ten overs, Chahal proved bountiful with 4/51.
"Jasprit Bumrah was special"...these were the words legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar used while praising the young pacer who demolished the South African top-order.
It was Bumrah who set the tone for Team India with two strikes at the top of the innings to derail the South African innings from the word go.
While heaping praise on the Indian bowling attack, Tendulkar singled out Bumrah and said: "I would like to single out Bumrah here, for the start that he gave was incredible. He generated that pace and the bounce he got off the pitch was something special. He created that pressure on the batsmen, who were not able to rotate the strike."
Chahal, on the other hand, finished with the best figures of the World Cup so far profiting from the exploits of India’s speedsters. Chahal first castled Proteas skipper Faf Du Plessis, followed it with the wicket of Rassie van der Dussen, before dismissing David Miller and all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo. The Proteas batsmen just didn't have an answer to Chahal's guile as he kept beating them with flighted deliveries.
"There was a bit of turn for the spinners even during the England-Pakistan series before the World Cup. But a lot will depend on the overhead conditions. Personally, I don't like rank turners. I love bowling on flat wickets with a bit of bounce. That personally suits my game. Also, as a wrist spinner, you do induce turn irrespective of how the wicket is and I have never believed in looking at tracks for assistance,” he said.
"Bowling on rank turners is also an art, but if you ask me, I would love flat wickets with a bit of bounce and that gets me going. You can't bowl fast on flat wickets and you need to give it loop so that the ball takes turn. On turning wickets, the pace has to be increased since you already are getting turn," he added