Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) talisman Virat Kohli's disastrous showing in his team's contest against the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) drew hilarious memes on social media.

 

Virat Kohli's struggles on the pitch were primarily because of Mumbai Indians pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who came up with a record-breaking performance, leading to RCB's fifth defeat in six games in the ongoing 17th edition of the IPL. 

 

In the high-octane encounter between Mumbai Indians and the RCB at home, the Team India pace spearhead produced one of his best bowling displays, finishing with outstanding figures of 5/21 in his four overs to torment Faf du Plessis and his men after Hardik Pandya won the toss and chose to field first. 

 

Right from the beginning, Jasprit Bumrah was on the button, troubling the 2024 IPL's leading run-scorer Virat Kohli as he choked him for runs. With runs hard to come by due to Jasprit Bumrah's immaculate line and length, the former RCB captain eventually got out for 3 off 9 balls as the Mumbai Indians star delivered a big blow to the visitors. 

 

After Jasprit Bumrah sent Virat Kohli back and Akash Madhwal dismissed Will Jacks in quick succession, Royal Challengers Bengaluru found themselves under the gun 2/23 before skipper Faf du Plessis combined with Rajat Patidar to steady the ship. 

 

When Faf du Plessis and Rajat Patidar were batting together, it looked like that RCB would end up with a huge total on the board. However, Jasprit Bumrah's return to bowling in the 11th over meant that the pressure was back on the South India-based franchise. 

 

The pressure exerted by Jasprit Bumrah helped Gerald Coetzee and Shreyas Gopal to secure the wickets of Rajat Patidar and Glenn Maxwell within five deliveries, shifting the momentum back to the Mumbai Indians. 

 

The last five overs of RCB's essay turned into Jasprit Bumrah's show as he tore into their lower-middle order, scalping Mahipal Lomror, Saurav Chauhan, and Vijaykumar Vyshak in no time whatsoever to complete his second five-wicket haul in the history of the IPL. 

 

With his heroics at the Wankhede Stadium, Jasprit Bumrah also became the first bowler in the Indian Premier League to pick five wickets against RCB.

 

Besides, he surpassed Ravindra Jadeja and Sandeep Sharma to become the highest wicket-taker against RCB. While Jasprit Bumrah's wicket tally rose to 29 against RCB following his historic display on Thursday, Ravindra Jadeja and Sandeep Sharma were left behind with 26 wickets each against the same side. 

 

Moreover, he joined Australia's James Faulkner, his Team India colleagues Jaydev Unadkat and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the only bowlers who have two fifers to their names in the prestigious T20 competition. 

 

After the match, a delighted Jasprit Bumrah shared the secret behind his all-format success. Also, he highlighted how his focus on developing newer skills has assisted him in transforming himself into a well-oiled cricketing machine. 

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“This format is very harsh on the bowler. So you have to have all kinds of skills. This is what I train for. That come this situation, I should have different options. I should not be a one-trick pony. I should just not rely on my yorker because there will be days where my execution is off so I can rely on another delivery. So this is what I had worked on early on in my career as well. Everybody's doing their research. Data and all of that comes in. So people start to line you up. So I wanted to have different skills so very happy that I could use it,” Jasprit Bumrah said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

 

“You have to have bad days to learn from it. What I have done in the past is that whenever I've had a bad day, next day, on a calm mind, I've seen the videos. What does not work, why did it not work? What is the way I've been playing? So all of these things, you have to be with the curve because nowadays you just cannot come on the day and say okay, I'll do this, maybe this will work,” he added.

 

“For me, preparation is always the key. When you prepare hard, you put yourself under pressure in the nets, you bowl to batters who can hit big sixes. You bowl to them, you see how you react to stress, you see how you react to pressure. Then you find start finding answers. It is very, very important for me to keep pushing myself in training. Then on game day you have answers that, okay, when I had similar pressure in training, I had answers,” Jasprit Bumrah stressed.

 

Even RCB skipper Faf du Plessis was in awe of Jasprit Bumrah, observing that he was the main difference between the two sides.

“He (Bumrah) has been the difference in the two innings. We put them under pressure but the one guy, being out there myself, and you see him with the ball in his hand. You want to put him under pressure, but the variety does everyone in. He has got a really good bouncer, slower ball,” the ex-South Africa skipper told the broadcasters.