Boom! The man who knows what to do. And what not to do

Jasprit Bumrah celebrates an Afghanistan wicket on Thursday. Pic/AP; PTI

By the halfway stage of the contest, it was obvious that barring the unforeseen, India would make a winning start to their Super Eight campaign. If any doubts still lingered, they were put to bed by Jasprit Bumrah, the champion paceman who turned in a third magical spell of fast bowling in four outings to scuttle Afghanistan's chase even before it took off.

Suryakumar Yadav's blazing half-century on a sluggish surface, and his entertaining 60-run fifth-wicket alliance with Hardik Pandya, had powered India to 181 for eight at the Kensington Oval on Thursday, setting the stage for Bumrah to do his thing. In his first over, Bumrah packed off Rahmanullah Gurbaz, then accounted for the other opener, Hazratullah Zazai, in his next. By the time he was done for the afternoon, Bumrah had sensational figures of 4-1-7-3. The Player of the Match award went to Suryakumar, though he himself might have been tempted to pass it on to his Mumbai Indians colleague.

Bangladesh next

Afghanistan crashed and burned to 134 all out off the last ball of the 20th over, netting India the full complement of points ahead of their next encounter, against Bangladesh, at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound on Saturday. Bangladesh will be looking for their first win after going down by 28 runs (DLS Method) to Australia at the same venue on Thursday night.

Jasprit Bumrah celebrates after dismissing Afghanistan's Najibullah Zadran on Thursday. Pic/AP; PTI

"He [Bumrah] has an idea of what to do and what not to do," said left-arm spinner Axar Patel later, after himself turning in excellent returns of one for 15 from three overs. "When it is going so well, even the bowling coach doesn't give too many inputs. He only says whatever your mindset is, it is clear, so just execute your plans."

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Such was the felicity with which Bumrah did so that he made the job of his bowling colleagues very easy. Kuldeep Yadav eased into the tournament with two for 32 from his four overs, Ravindra Jadeja was tidy with his left-arm spin and Arshdeep Singh salvaged an expensive outing with three late wickets, ensuring that India had an all-round performance to savour.

‘Needed to bat better'

Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott rued some of the shot selection without naming specific batters. "Obviously, Bumrah is going to be a key bowler for any side [opposition]," the former England batter observed. "We needed to play him better; his figures suggest we didn't play him very well. We'd spoken about it, but we weren't able to execute that and that's very disappointing."

Axar Patel

Suryakumar had been a sweeping success in the morning as he breezed to his 50 off just 27 deliveries, using the horizontal bat shot to tremendous effect against Afghan captain Rashid Khan, who finished with three for 26. "When Rashid bowls, it's tough to get him away," a modest Suryakumar noted. "A lot of hard work and practice has gone behind this. I'm very clear about what to do when I go out. This Player of the Match award is the first for a batter [from India], hope it's the first of many."