Former South African cricketer Dale Steyn showered admiration on Jasprit Bumrah following their T20 World Cup 2026 semifinal against England. India advanced to the final with an exciting seven-run victory. India scored 253/7, but it wasn’t an easy victory because England was only able to reach 246/7 despite threatening to pull off the chase.
At the end, Bumrah bowled two excellent overs while conceding just 14 runs. Steyn gave Bumrah a lot of credit, expressed amazement at his performance under duress, and praised him for consistently delivering. He also mentioned that England would have chased the total if it weren’t for Bumrah’s two overs.
“I don’t know how Bumrah does it, honestly. This guy is incredible. That amount of pressure, and he does it all the time, not like once every now and then. He does this all the time. I can’t believe it. I don’t know what the batter’s approach needs to be while playing him. I don’t know many people who try to take him on, and even if they do, they end up getting out. He is so special, it is hard to put into words how difficult it is to achieve what he did. Take his two overs away, and England would have won the game by an over,” Steyn said in a conversation on AB de Villiers’ YouTube channel.
Bumrah was also commended by AB de Villiers, who emphasized that the pacer understood the circumstances and trusted himself to use his abilities appropriately. Additionally, he praised Hardik Pandya for his outstanding bowling in the 19th over and gave appreciation to Suryakumar Yadav for approaching Bumrah earlier and giving Shivam Dube the final over.
“His biggest strength is that he plays what’s in front of him. Everyone has game plans and blueprints. I promise you, this guy plays what he sees, and he backs it. It is all about Bumrah believing in himself and his ability to execute when he needs to and when it matters the most,” said De Villiers.
“If it wasn’t for over 16, 18 Bumrah and then Pandya, England would have won this game. Kudos to SKY. He took a huge risk leaving the final over to the guy who is not in form or least probable to win them the game. It wasn’t easy as Bumrah also had to come out and perform,” he added.
Pandya’s execution, which left Dube with 30 runs to defend in the last over, was also praised by the former South African captain. Only 23 runs were given up in the final three overs by Bumrah and Hardik, and Hardik’s 19th over turned the tide of the match entirely in India’s favor.
“I have to give credit to Hardik. It was the flattest wicket. Coming up once again when it mattered most and bowling an incredible over, making it easy for Shivam Dube in that final over,” said De Villiers.
