No player in recent times has so separated India from the rest of the pack quite like Jasprit Bumrah. To say that in the era of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma is an adequate enough reflection of what Bumrah means to this team. It should also reveal the enormousness of the challenge facing the think tank as it sets about replacing the 28-year-old for the ICC T20 World Cup.
The third and final T20I in Indore on Tuesday, which South Africa won by 49 runs to avoid a clean sweep, offered very little cues. Three potential replacements in Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav all played. The trio bowled a combined 11 overs — across PowerPlay, middle overs and the death — and ended up conceding in excess of 11 runs per over.
Rilee Rossouw (100 n.o., 48b, 7x4, 8x6) and Quinton de Kock (68, 43b, 6x4, 4x6) took full advantage of the flattest of pitches and the Holkar Stadium’s small boundaries to rack up 227 runs. India, without Kohli and K.L. Rahul (both rested), played catch-up all evening, before falling short. The series, if anything, helped establish the pecking order of Bumrah’s replacements among the trio, with Chahar emerging at the top, on the virtue of his performances in the first two matches. His ability with the bat — he scored 31 off 17 balls in the finale — is a good add-on. A few extra runs can give a Bumrah-less India some insurance.
