India's skipper for the ongoing three-match T20I series against Ireland, Jasprit Bumrah, made a match-winning return to international cricket as he delivered a Player of the Match performance (2/24) to help the team draw first blood in the first T20I played on Friday, August 18.
Bumrah was arguably the most impressive bowler on his return to international cricket as he applied relentless pressure on the opposition batters and bagged two pivotal wickets in the form of former Ireland skipper Andy Balbirnie and wicketkeeper-batter Lorcan Tucker.
In his four-over spell the 29-year-old bowled 16 dot balls and gave away just a single run in the form of extras. The Irish batters were unable to get the right-arm pacer away as they could only score three boundaries and a maximum off him.
Watch Bumrah's two wickets on return to international cricket:
Reflecting on his impressive return Bumrah credited the support staff for his smooth transition to international cricket after an extended injury lay-off. He also mentioned that he wasn't feeling jittery about his return as leading the side comes with an added responsibility when you have to look at the entire team and can't only worry about your performance.
"Felt very good. So many sessions I did at the NCA and the practice games. Didn't feel like I missed out a lot or I'm doing something new so credit to the staff there. Very happy to be back and always good to contribute. (Any nerves?) Not really, when you're captaining you are thinking more about the whole team and not just your own performance," Bumrah told during the post-match presentation.
"Very happy that the weather was helpful for the bowlers. In every game, you want more and you always search for a perfect game. Credit to them as well for keeping their nerves in a crisis," he added.
India looked determined to bowl with overcast conditions and were clinical when they stepped on the field and didn't let the India batters off the hook at any stage. Barring Curtis Campher (33 off 39) and Barry McCarthy (51* off 33 balls) none of the other Ireland batters looked threatening in the middle as the visitors were able to restrict them to just 139 in 20 overs.
India's batters made sure they were ahead of the DLS par score when the rain came in the seventh over and put an end to the contest. The Bumrah-led side won the fixture by 2 runs (DLS method).
