Who Played the Biggest Role in Taking India to the Final?

Many players contributed to India national cricket team’s victory over England national cricket team in the semifinal, but the question remains—who had the greatest impact?

The official Player of the Match award went to Sanju Samson, thanks to his impressive innings of 89 runs. On paper, that performance made him the standout contributor.

However, Samson himself believes the award could just as easily have gone to Jasprit Bumrah. India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav and England captain Harry Brook also singled out Bumrah for special praise.

Cricket analysts watching the match echoed similar views. Former South Africa national cricket team captain Faf du Plessis even remarked that having Bumrah in the team is like giving the captain a “superpower.”

Many observers believe Bumrah’s 18th over was the turning point of the match. At a crucial moment, he conceded just six runs, putting pressure on England’s chase. Overall, England scored 246 runs in their 20 overs, but Bumrah finished his four-over spell with only 33 runs conceded.

India will now hope for a similar performance from Bumrah in the final against New Zealand national cricket team on Sunday. However, the statistics against New Zealand might cause some concern for the Indian camp.

Numbers suggest that New Zealand is the one team against whom Bumrah has struggled to produce his usual impact. In simple terms, the Kiwi side appears to be the only opponent that has consistently kept him relatively quiet.

Looking specifically at ICC Men's T20 World Cup-format matches, the 32-year-old fast bowler has played 14 T20 games against New Zealand and taken only 16 wickets. That means he takes a wicket roughly every 23.37 runs and maintains an economy rate of 7.05.

Those figures are noticeably weaker than his overall T20 career numbers. Across 94 matches, Bumrah’s bowling average stands at 18.57 with an economy rate of 6.55.

The trend is similar in other formats as well. In One Day International cricket, Bumrah has faced New Zealand in 13 matches and picked up 15 wickets. His bowling average against them is 39.20, which is 15.65 runs higher than his overall ODI career average. In fact, he has not recorded a higher average against any other team. His economy rate against New Zealand in ODIs is 4.83, compared to his overall rate of 4.59.

The pattern continues in Test cricket. Bumrah has played five Tests against New Zealand and managed only nine wickets, with a bowling average of 45.44.

If his numbers against all opponents were like this, Bumrah likely would not have developed his current reputation. His overall Test bowling average is just 19.79. Against New Zealand, however, he concedes around 2.93 runs per over, slightly higher than his career rate of 2.77.

Across all three formats combined, New Zealand remains the only opponent against whom Bumrah’s bowling performance falls short of his usual career standards.

And now, that very team awaits India in the final.