India captain Suryakumar Yadav donned his Superman cape during their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup fixture against the West Indies cricket team on Sunday, March 1 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. With India in desperate need of a wicket, the skipper introduced Jasprit Bumrah into the attack in the 12th over, and the seamer did not disappoint.
He first had the dangerous Shimron Hetmyer caught behind by Sanju Samson, and two balls later Bumrah outfoxed a well-set Shai Hope with a slower delivery, inducing a miscued shot that ballooned into the air. Suryakumar, stationed at short cover, leapt high and completed a stunning diving catch to swing the momentum back in India’s favour.
Earlier, after winning the toss, India opted to bowl first and went in with an unchanged playing XI. The Men in Blue were rather sloppy during the powerplay, handing two reprieves to Roston Chase — first in the third over and again in the fifth.
In the third over, Varun Chakravarthy threw at the wrong end while both Chase and Hope were stranded mid-pitch. Later, Abhishek Sharma dropped a straightforward chance inside the circle, offering Chase another lifeline on 14.
Chase and Hope then stitched together a 68-run partnership off 53 balls for the opening wicket before Chakravarthy provided the breakthrough by rattling Hope’s (32 off 33) stumps. Following his dismissal, Hetmyer (27 off 12) came out all guns blazing and looked determined to put West Indies in a commanding position alongside Chase (40 off 25), with the pair adding 34 runs off just 16 balls.
However, Bumrah altered the complexion of the match with a decisive double-wicket over. Later, Hardik Pandya dismissed Sherfane Rutherford (14 off 9) to leave West Indies reeling at 119/4 in 14.1 overs.
