"India is so fortunate to have him": Sanjay Manjrekar on Jasprit Bumrah after IND-AFG clash in T20WC

Bridgetown [Barbados], June 21 (ANI): Following India's win against Afghanistan in the Super 8 fixture against Afghanistan in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar lauded the right-arm seamer Jasprit Bumrah following his brilliant performance in the match. Bumrah bowled exceptionally well where he managed to snap three wickets in his spell of four overs where he conceded just seven runs and bowled one maiden over too. Speaking to ESPNCricinfo TIMEOUT show, the former right-hand batter praised the 30-year-old. He said that Bumrah's performance in the ongoing T20 World Cup is just like how Sunil Narine bowls at the Eden Gardens in the Indian Premier League.

"Jasprit Bumrah is performing in the USA and West Indies just like Sunil Narine at Eden Gardens during the IPL. There were many matches when we had not conceded the boundary and look at the difference between him and the couple of other seamers. They were also an international standard, but quite rightly I mean, he's looking even better when you look at all the top-class bowlers around the world. There's a big margin between them and Bumrah and India is so fortunate to have him in your playing 11," Manjrekar said.

In the ongoing marquee event so far, the speedster has bagged eight wickets in the five matches so far at an average of 6.50.

Coming to the match, India won the toss and elected to bat first. India was struggling at 90/4 at one point, then came a match-saving 60-run partnership between Suryakumar Yadav (53 in 28 balls, with five fours and three sixes) and Hardik Pandya (32 in 24 balls, with three fours and two sixes) that took India to 181/8 in their 20 overs.

Rashid Khan (3/26) and Fazalhaq Farooqi (3/33) were the top bowlers for Afghanistan.

In the run-chase of 182 runs, Afghanistan never looked threatening and lost wickets regularly. Azmatullah Omarzai (26 in 20 balls, with two fours and a six) was the only one to cross the 20-run mark as other batters failed miserably against Bumrah (3/7), Arshdeep (3/36) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/32). Afghanistan was bundled out for 134 runs in their 20 overs.

Suryakumar Yadav was given the 'Player of the Match' award. (ANI)