Bumrah returns with a controlled spell, Jayawardene pleased with his fitness, execution

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 8 (ANI): Jasprit Bumrah made a much-anticipated return to competitive cricket, bowling at full intensity and showing no signs of discomfort during the Mumbai Indians' (MI) 12-run loss to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. Head coach Mahela Jayawardene was satisfied with the pacer's performance, noting that Bumrah executed his plans well in his first match since the New Year's Test in Australia, as per ESPNcricinfo.
"I just spoke to him after the game, and he looks in good nick," Jayawardene said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
"He's disappointed as well. He wanted a win when he came back. But other than that, he looks fine. I think the pace was up, the execution was good," he added.
Bumrah, who rejoined the MI squad on Saturday after receiving clearance from the BCCI's Centre of Excellence (formerly the National Cricket Academy), trained with the team on Sunday. He bowled to batters for the first time in over three months.
"I think we got two swing bowlers, we need to give them that opportunity first up," Jayawardene said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
"Boom's [Bumrah] coming back from a three-month lay-off as well. So we just wanted to ease him into the competition, but he bowled well, and he controlled things really well. The more he starts playing, [getting] game time, he'll get into it," he said.
"The last time he was playing a Test match, all of a sudden he's playing a T20. So we need to understand that. The skills were brilliant,t but there are areas for us to improve," he added.
Despite returning from a long layoff, Bumrah delivered a composed spell, finishing with figures of 0/29 in his four overs. He bowled one over in each phase of the innings -- powerplay, middle overs, and two at the death -- and was the most economical bowler on either side. While MI conceded 52 runs in the last four overs, Bumrah's two overs during that period cost only 14 runs. He was hit for just two boundaries in the entire spell, both of which were sixes.
"[Having Bumrah back] just gives us more options," Jayawardene said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
"Yesterday was his first day bowling to batsmen. That confidence is something that we lacked in the last few games. We have that as well, but we just need to put all these pieces together and execute a good game to give us confidence so that we can move on," he added.
MI had opted to bowl first, with Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar sharing the new ball. Bumrah was introduced in the fourth over after RCB had already reached 33/1. His presence added much-needed control, even if it wasn't enough to stop RCB from posting 221/5, a total that ultimately proved beyond MI's reach.
"Obviously, NCA has a programme that they have to go through, do all the fitness tests and make sure that he is in good shape," Jayawardene said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
"That applies to all Indian central contracted players. Once he went through that, he had five-six good sessions as well, everything was cleared. The only thing he was lacking was game time. He hadn't played actively," he added.
"That was something that he came and worked with us yesterday at the nets execution-wise. The experience, the skill that you saw today was pretty good. He bowled to some good players and probably had two or three bad balls in that spell. I'm pretty happy with that," he noted.
Though MI suffered their fourth defeat in five games, Bumrah's return to action was one of the few positives, a promising sign not only for MI but also for Indian cricket ahead of a busy calendar. (ANI)