Is Bumrah The Greatest Ever?! India Beat England So What Next?

0:00Big shout out to our mates at Remittly for Backing Beard Before Wicked, helping look after your family overseas, remittly make sending money quick, simple and safe, straightening your phone, more on them in a bit. Hello and welcome back to the Beard Before Wicked podcast, of course on virtual, if you're watching. You will also notice that Mo and Rash are not here, there's very good reason for that. Due to the things happening in the Middle East, Mo is currently, let's say in between a few places and obviously Rash is with England at the moment. So we have bought in a substitute and he is a great substitute by the way, he may look like Moran Ali, he isn't Moran Ali. I say this to you every time we record, I never know how to introduce you because people in India know you as a drug father, I know you as just my guy that I can go to for anything cricket or football and in this case you're arriving to us as a superfan, having been to that massive game for India. Brother, how are you first of all? Thank you so much Nubed for having me on. I'm

1:05good, I'm great. As you mentioned, I was there for that amazing match. It was my first T20 World Cup match ever inside a stadium and to have been watching such an exciting game with 500 runs for scored in a single match. You are team scoring 253 runs and you're just winning the match where 7 runs. I'm still at lots of words to be honest, how to describe that game, to be honest. Yes, wild. You know the last over where Archer hit 36 is, even though the score was there's no way England could have come back. It was one of those games where I was like something could happen, you know, like this could be a no ball or a wide and suddenly we're in business again because Archer obviously didn't bowl that well. But we are going to talk a little bit about that game and then we're going to look forward to the New Zealand game. But you had the experience obviously, like I felt like the atmosphere the whole time was, it felt like in, I felt like you guys knew you were going to win. To be honest, after the power play we were quite relaxed. I went out to get

2:14some water because it was really humid and I was trying to get something to drink. So I just went down. Then I heard Tom Banton hit Akshar for a couple of sixes. Then I heard a huge chill. So I assumed that he's gone. We were like, I was with my couple of mates and we were like, three, four down I think. They were when Will Jax came in. So we were like, okay, it's done pretty much done now. Let's look at, let's try to book our tickets for Ahmedabad. Now let's see how we can get there. And then when that partnership began between Bethel and Will Jax, at no point, I think they let the requirement rate go above 14. And that was the deal the entire time. At 13.67 was the requirement rate because I remember the numbers because I was looking at the screen right there, that big screen. The requirement rate RRR was 13.67 current rate 12.59. I remember those numbers so clearly. So that was the hallmark of that partnership. They did not allow anyone to settle.

3:17Varun I think we'll discuss more about him as we move on. But the way they took on Varun, the spinners as a whole like Akshar also went for a few runs. But ultimately I think that major thing which when us the game was the thing which was letting us down the entire tournament, our catching efficiency was the least amongst the top teams. 13 catches dropped before that game. And to hold on to those catches, I mean, Akshar plugging out to absolutely like catch of the tournament contenders. Till like being cool under pressure when he got Sam Karan out on the midwicket boundary. So those moments I think were the difference in the end because see, after the match people were asking me who's your man of the match, who do you think is your player of the match. When the match goes down to the wire, when 500 runs are being scored in a game and your team just wins by seven runs, I think you can't just select one man of the match. I mean, you have to talk about the moments that boomerawar where he only gave a trance, maybe

4:17that Sam Karan knock where he got 18 of just like only 18 of 14 deliveries. Maybe that was the game changer who knows like I'm not blaming Sam Karan or anything, but like those are the moments when you look like England, you did what a couple of more deliveries. Yeah, those are the margins that we talk about in the end. Yeah, I think, you know what, you make a great point because I think a lot of people have spent the post game analysis talking about, I don't know, and we're going to do the same thing to be fair. We're talking about, you know, like this guy won it, like Hardik Pandia being the guy who balls the last over, like he is like a man of steel, like it's what he does, it's what we know. But then on top of that, like we're going to talk about boomerawar for sure, that's a conversation I definitely want to have what I have with you. And then obviously people are saying about archer also considered 60 runs and probably lost England in the game, Brooke obviously drops Sundry Samson on like the massive moment. That was a huge one. You know what, what's crazy about

5:18that moment? I think the moment it happened, most people went, that might be the game. You know, like obviously there's so many runs scored that is so hard now to say that that might like he, Sundry Samson might have got out, but then whoever came in next maybe till it comes in earlier, he ends up hitting 50 anyway, he looks in good Nick when he came. So I think like I don't love the idea of like this game was won by this one thing. I think this game was won by like 10 different things. You know, like if Akshar Patel drops the catch, I can't remember who it was, but is it Brooke? Brooke was in the first and I think Jacks was the second weekend. Yeah, like Jacks was like an unbelievable, if that goes over the line for a four, England probably won the game. And going for six, it was going for a six actually. So England would at least draw the game. So so yeah, I just think it was a mad moment. I like I said, I want to talk about Jaspreet Pomra because this course after this, and we'll talk about that 18 forever, but everyone is saying, is he the best to ever do it? Oh my god, like I don't want to do any disservice to the legends

6:23who have played this game, including some of like he's definitely like he has to be the greatest Indian fastballer that I have seen like because I have not seen Kapil there to be honest. Kapil there is right up there. Zahir Khan for me is a legend. But whenever I pick my all-time India 11, irrespective of the format, Jaspreet Bumra is right up there. Like he's the first name on the team. And for me, he in this generation, he is in the bracket of MSD, Virat, Rohit, the match winners. And for an Indian fastballer to be there is a big deal, I guess because you don't associate India with fastballers, right? And Bumra, I think, yes, he might have the case for being the best baller of this generation, best ever. I think like it's about eras, right? Like he's got your Alan Donnells, your Vaseem Akrams, your Dale Staines, Glenn Meghras, Brett Lees, it's very unfair because the conditions and the rules were quite different when these legends were playing. So I like the sound of it. Jaspreet Bumra, the greatest of all time.

7:29But of the last generation, definitely one of the greats, if not the great, greatest Indian baller of handstop. Let me pose you a question because I had a feeling you'd say this and I feel the exact same way, by the way. But it's easy for me to say it because I'm not an India supporter. So if I say Bumra is not the best ever to it, people think no, no, no, you don't know what he's talking about. But I looked at that 18th of them and this is where I would change the question. I don't think there's a baller that I can think of that can do what he did in the 18th. I think as pace baller regardless of whether from India or wherever, like I don't want to say Vaseem Akram, but if Vaseem Akram balls that over, he still gets hit for some runs. You know, like I think in that sense, I think Bumra is the most unique pace baller we've ever seen to be able to do things. I mean, first name that comes into my mind because of the format that we're talking about right now, exclusively is Lassit Malin. Like if you if a baller, you can like

8:33really like, but that's the point right. Like you can't think of many ballers who can do that in that moment. And it's like that's the thing about Suriya's captaincy also. I think Suriya's captaincy in that moment becomes how he rotates Bumra because the use of Bumra is where you win the match in my opinion. And if our batsman is brave enough or skillful enough or cool enough in that position to take on Bumra and score some runs off him, then hats off to that player, but it's very difficult because the amount of pressure that you face when you're facing someone like a Bumra steaming at you is immense. And he's always delivered in this situation, like even in the last World Cup final, the match was gone. It was like head and buried when class and was playing, class and gets out. And Bumra comes in, pulls that magnificent over as deep as follows up. And like then we get back into the game. So he's done it ample of times. The only reason why we thought

9:35we had a chance in the 23 World Cup final was Bumra because he got those early wickets also. So he has always been there. Sometimes because he's not supported well enough, we don't end up winning the game because people tend to forget that it is a team sport at the end of the day. And we talk about football or any other sport like no matter how many goals you're messy or Ronaldo's will score. They don't win every game or every season their teams don't win the Champions League because it is a team sport at the end of the day. So Bumra also needs that support. But yeah, on his own, I think in isolation, I feel like what he offers as a bowler and the skill set. See, people always talk about his skills as a bowler. Like he balls a good yawker. He's got a very good length. He varies his pace because his action is such that he does not give too much away. I think he's a very intelligent bowler. Like his game reading his IQ, the way he targets a player, he knows the weak areas like first ball, slower ball to brook. He knows Harry Brook is going to go

10:40after him from the first ball because the target demands that comes up boom, balls a slower ball through the short early and aksher backs it up with a brilliant catch, but that is what Bumra brings to the table. So this is something you don't get with any other bowler right now. I think also added to that, probably some of the people don't talk about that much is because Bumra does what he does in the 16th and the 18th, whoever's ball in the 17th and the 19th can do it with a lot less pressure on them because even if they throw runs, which I think, I can't remember, was it, uh, I don't know if you balled either the, he balled an over near Bumra's where he got smashed around, but he couldn't get away with that because Bumra's just stops it. Yeah, I think it was. Yeah. And so I think because he stops like a potential leakage, you can have a leakage after and without realizing there's like a dominant effect where he can just cover for someone else and then also it applies. Obviously, this is the obvious point. Apply some pressure on a batter.

11:42The bat and now goes and that's what England did. England said we're going to just survive this Bumra over and then we're going to go after the next guy and then obviously this wicked happens because of the situation Bumra puts people in which is fascinating because you know, back in the days, like you wouldn't, it would be quite rare that a team would have one baller who did that for the rest of the ballers. You'd have like a, like they'd come in pairs almost. So you'd have like McGraw and Brett Lee and like if one wasn't getting wickets, the other one was applying pressure for the other one to get wickets. Like that's always been how it's worked and I think you correctly said there it's not really been the same for Bumra for India, not in this format anyway. He always applies pressure. It just tends to go wrong sometimes from the other end. I also want to talk about Bethel very quickly. Probably the one guy that I think would throw like, you know, before this game, what was the sentiment in India around Bethel? Like, what was the feeling? I mean, like

12:48people who watch like cricket closely and people who have followed Bethel, no, he's a quality player and he's got some things about his game. Like even in the Ashes also, I think he was introduced very late. I think if he was there earlier, I think he could have contributed more. Like RCB fans really watch Bethel with a keen eye. So that was the case there. But to be honest, no one expected what he produced. I think it has to be one of the greatest knocks ever to have come in a losing cause in a T20. Because I don't think of any other century, maybe Chris Gayle in the opening match of the T20 World Cup in 2007 against South Africa. But that was batting first, if you remember. Yeah. And Gibbs and Smith, like, came out in the second and they absolutely blew West Indies out of it. But this was the context was very different, right? This is a knockout game. That was a league stage game. That this is a semi-final of the

13:48World Cup. You're like chasing the highest total ever. Fun fact on the same ground in the 2016 World Cup, England chased two thirty-five out against South Africa, where Joe Roots scored a century. Oh, really? Yeah. I didn't know that. I think that was a super eight game or a league phase game. I don't really remember. So England, like, have, like, have, like, England fancy this ground. So I was very of that fact that they have done it in the past. But yeah, Bethel, what he did. And like, okay, Varun is going for runs, but still you back Varun, right? Like, he's your number one spinner in the T20 format. The way he took on Varun without any fear and the way he dispatched him for three sixes, the tone was said, but still he had so much to do. But the way he was batting intelligently got a boundary in the first two deliveries, single double, single double. Rarely, there was a Dodd ball. I think there was a phase of five six overs. There was no Dodd balls in England, in England, in England, in England, in England, in England, we were cheering your Dodd ball like a wicket. There was a phase in the innings. Will Jack supported him really well.

14:51And that is what you need. When we talked about Bumra, he needs that support. Even a player who is going at it, even a batter needs a proper support. Will Jack's did that. My pick for the player of the tournament, like, definitely if England would have reached the finals, like, irrespective of what would have happened in that fine. Still also, I think Will Jack has to win my top three players of the tournament. But coming back to Bethel, I feel like he made us nervous. To be honest, like, even when England needed 32 of 12 or 11 deliveries, I still thought the game was on because the way he was batting. So big credit to him. Like, we all applauded him when he reached a century, well deserved. Like, if it was any other game apart from India, I would have wanted him to score that. But yeah, yeah, it was against us. So how could I, like, I wasn't the stadium also. So I do not want my team to lose right? Yeah. Yeah. I think, you know what? Like, the point

15:52you made there about the Chris, the Chris Gale one, I remember so well, but the difference in that one was like, West Indies lost it was in the end of the world. Like, in this situation, Bethel knew he was chasing a record tally. He'd seen his captain go out, Brooke, who just played so well against Pakistan and seemed to be on this trajectory where everyone was saying, oh, you know what, Brooke's going to have this run now towards the end of the tournament. He's both his openness underperformed. He then comes in as one of the young guys yet to hit a T20 international 100, comes along and does it like unbelievable. I also, obviously, this is why we have you here because you're the India fan signing India. God think and be here. I don't want to make this a negative concept. Okay. Okay. You do for those that are just listening and you maybe didn't hear that. That was like a, oh, God. Why? Like, looking from my lens, everyone who watched this beard before it knows that I am unapologetically a Pakistan fan. For me, up until this point, tactics wise,

16:56decision-making wise, God, I'm going to be able to feel like he's got a lot of things right. Why the noise? The noise was because it's very difficult to make any opinion on Gautam Gamy. So it was not because like I don't like or like I like or dislike Gautam Gamy. It's not about that. It's very difficult to discuss Gautam Gamy. See, he's done tremendously well in the white ball format. No doubt about it. He won the Champions trophy as a coach. Did really well in the T20 setup. Has brought in his ideas. He is doing his job phenomenally well in the white ball format. He's got us to a second consecutive T20 World Cup final. So he is doing his job, but the ultimate test in my opinion is test cricket. Even though our team is in transition, I agree. Three of our heavyweights have retired Ashwin Rohit and Virat. There is no replacing these players anytime soon. But even though when you're in transition, you should be doing better. Like losses are not a concern

18:01for me. The way we lose the matches is a concern for me. Like what happened against South Africa. Then what happened against New Zealand when the whole team was there, like New Zealand comes to India, they beat us three and we lose our place in the test championship final. That was something that really did not sit well with me. England in the hindsight, I feel, is not a big of an achievement. All to respect. Don't want to be disrespectful because England tests side are a mess right now. The way they are playing the basketball facade is over for me. It's done. You can't be bigger than the game. You should respect the fundamentals of the game. But Gambhir, I think the cause of frustration with Gambhir is that he has made too many changes too fast and the casualties of those changes have been Virat and Rohit in the test format. Like fans really want to see Rohit and Virat play as long as they can. Not sure. So the reaction and the outrage is quite negative

19:06and I can understand that why it is that because we are very emotional as cricket fans. We literally worship these guys as cricket fans. So I can understand that side of the thing. But I think if we win this T20 World Cup, this win will buy him some more time and we'll actually get some fans on his side. Big thanks again to Remittly for supporting Baird before wicket. No matter how far your people are, you can stay connected by sending money home the easy way with Remittly now back to the show. So let's bring it back to the positive side of this. Do you think you're going to win it? Are you expecting to win it? How can you not home World Cup, your team reaches the final and at one point in the tournament we were not even considered as the same finalists after that. Because Zimbabwe were coming off two consecutive wins Australia, Sri Lanka, tough game. What West Indies did to Zimbabwe? So all those things were quite

20:10interesting. See there are two reasons why I think we'll win the game. One is the emotional fan reason and one is the logical reason. So I'll start with the fan reason, the emotional reason. We have to like lift that curse of the 23 World Cup because that has given a wound to like all the 1.5 billion of us which we won't forget anytime soon. Like that was our World Cup. It was not supposed to be anyone else's World Cup. Top two run scorers from India, top wicket taker from India. Every record broken in that World Cup, no weakness at all. Steam rolled every team in the 10 games that we played. Income Australia and let's snatch it away from us. Well deserved the way. I like it's just. It still hurts me being salty about a few things but can't help it. First time in the history of any World Cup final, not the team, not the players, but the stadium is under pressure.

21:13It would be deemed as the cursed stadium. Like it's a Marakana. Like for viewers who don't know Marakana. So in the 1950 FIFA World Cup, Brazil were supposed to take Uruguay on in the Marakana and the newspapers were printed on one day before that. Okay, Brazil have won the World Cup and Uruguay just upset them won the final two and so it is our Marakana if we don't win it. But coming to the logical side of the things, whatever New Zealand did to South Africa was absolutely brilliant but conditions are quite different in India. They have been playing their super eight games in Sri Lanka where there was a lot of grip and spin in the wickets. They faced all three results. One of their games was washed out. They won against Sri Lanka and I think they lost against England. They lost against England. So that was a close game as well. So they founded difficult in games where they were making 160, 170 type of totals. I think pitch report has just come in. It's a mixed wicket. It's a black and

22:17red soil mixed wicket. So it will be helpful for all the parties involved, Pacers as well as spinners. But I think we have seen what we should not do. We should not be under prepared when we play in Ahmedabad. We did that against South Africa. So we have already played one game there. Atos will be a huge, huge factor again. I think it's a ground that heavily favors the teams who chase and in IPR also you saw last season that anything above 200 was a piece of cake for the teams who were chasing mostly Gujarat titans. The way Gil and Sudarshan were dominating the tournament. Gil Sudarshan and Butler all three were dominating the tournament. Only thing is to see out met Henry because met Henry again, again, New Zealand met Henry in a World Cup knockout game is a menace. I just don't like the sight of met Henry to be honest. It might not even come to Mekongi and the other boys Rachen and Sandner if met Henry does the

23:19damage early in the power play. So we have to see him out. And I just want Abhishek to silence the critics. There's a Virat. What Virat did? Like 74 runs in the entire tournament, 75 in the final. Yeah. I think what you just described, I think there's so many factors to this. I think India will win, obviously. But cricket isn't played that way. We both know that. No sport is played that way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, nothing is one on paper. But I do think an early wicket of finale or Tim Syffer changes the direction in a big way. But yeah, I think there's I think a lot of people at the start, the semi-finals would have said the final they don't really want to see would be India against New Zealand because that's probably the two teams of the biggest distance you'd say on paper. I think people would have loved to see India against South Africa or India against England in the final. But New Zealand have a wonderful habit of always putting up a fight. No matter what happens, something can happen in their favour. The only thing that goes against

24:19them, and I think it was I watched, I read a tweet earlier where Dale Stain said on a podcast that it's unfair that South Africa are always described as the chokers when New Zealand don't win anything either. I personally wouldn't describe New Zealand as chokers. I think it's for a nation so small to even get this far every time is an achievement where South Africa is an enormous nation has been has an enormous cricket history etc etc. Anyway, I'm going to let you go because it's about three in the morning. Yeah, almost like let me check. 332. Anyway, I think it's going to be really interesting. I think India is going to win. I've said that since the start of the tournament, you think India is going to win. What I hope for is drama. Give me a super over. Give me a double super. One sided boring win. New Zealand to get out on 115 or something and we smash it in 13 or 14 overs. I don't want any drama. I just want the trophy. I'm speaking from a neutral perspective obviously. Thank you brother for hopping on. Thank you so much.

25:21You're absolutely legend. Love your insight on football. I'm cricket. Obviously in this case, cricket for us. You guys watching or listening, make sure you subscribe and follow it before we keep it. Also follow Drunk Baba whether you love cricket or football. He's a great great I know you don't subscribe yourself as a pundit but I think you you could very easily be a pundit in both sports. I'm going to describe you as a fan who could be a pundit and for you guys, we will see you after the final. Probably on Monday. Big thanks again to Remitley for supporting Beard Before Wicked and no matter how far your people are, you can stay connected by sending money home the easy way with Remitley. Now back to the show.