Bridgetown (Barbados), Jun 29 (PTI) Little surprisingly, lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah was adjudged the Player of the Tournament for his impeccable impact on India’s triumphant T20 World Cup campaign.
Stats would show that Bumrah is third on the wicket-takers’ chart with 15 wickets from eight matches but his value remained immeasurable for India in the ICC showpiece, which they had won after 17 years, beating South Africa by seven runs.
Bumrah underlined his value for this side taking two wickets of Reeza Hendricks early and Marco Jansen at the end as he kept SA run-making in check.
“I tried to keep calm. We play the sport for this, I am really over the moon, my son is here, family is here, we've been working really hard towards this, no better feeling than that. We play sport for the big stages,” said Bumrah during the presentation ceremony.
He said the significance of the occasion fired him up to do even better.
“On the big day, you have to give more, throughout the tournament I felt very clear and calm. At my peak mindset I think of one ball at a time. The emotions can take over, but now the job is done.”
Bumrah, however, admitted once the job was done he too was unable to keep his emotions in control while his teammates wept with joy.
"Usually I’m the one who tries to keep my emotions in check and get the job done but today I don’t have many words, I don’t usually cry after a game but the emotions are taking over," he conceded.
Bumrah said he exploited the reverse swing well in the second spell, where he dismissed Jansen.
“That over I thought length ball (against Jansen) was the option, it was reverse-swinging and I was glad to execute,” he added.