Left perplexed by Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya's tactics in the record-breaking IPL loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad, former Australia captain Steve Smith has said he cannot fathom why premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah bowled just six deliveries up until the 13th over of the match.
In a stunning display of power-hitting, Sunrisers Hyderabad posted the highest ever IPL total of 277/3 before clinching a 31-run victory over an equally aggressive Mumbai Indians on Wednesday night.
Bumrah was the second-most economical bowler in the match, after SRH captain Pat Cummins (2/35), conceding 36 runs in his four overs which did not yield any wicket.
"I was perplexed with some of their bowling changes in the first innings for Mumbai. Bumrah bowled in the fourth over, he went for 5 and then we didn't see him again till the 13th over when they were on 173," Smith told host broadcaster 'Star Sports'.
"All the damage had been done, you needed your best bowler to be coming back and take some wickets in that period and I think they missed a trick there bringing him back only in the 13th over," he pointed out.
"I think he got a few things wrong, and that was the main one for me. I mean you can't have one of the best bowlers in the world bowling one over."
Smith said Bumrah's late reintroduction into the attack rendered him ineffective.
"When the ball is going around like that, you've just got to bring your best bowler back earlier than you would have liked. It's just about adapting on the go and I'd have almost bowled Bumrah out by the 15th, 16th over, try to get some wickets, if he gets wickets, you slow the rate down anyway.
"If the guy is batting at the end, doesn't matter who is bowling, we saw that really with Bumrah in the last two overs and he still got smacked with the bat at the back end," he explained.
"So if he came back earlier and had taken some risks, things would have been really different and they got 277 and they could have been reduced to 240 and might have chased those down, so I was just perplexed that he bowled only one over up until the 13th over."
Smith said it's hard to make sense of the power-hitting contest the match turned out to be.
"...38 sixes in total, the ball was just going all over the place. It was an incredible game.
Another former cricketer Brian Lara lauded SRH's Abhishek Sharma, who smacked a 23-ball 63.
"Abhishek Sharma is one of my favourite young batters...He can hit it, he's not a big muscular guy, but when he hits the ball it stays hit. I think his was a special knock today," he said.
