'By then, the game's gone, the game's totally gone' - Tom Moody perplexed by use of Jasprit Bumrah against SRH

Match 8 of IPL 2024 between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Mumbai Indians turned out to be a batting bonanza for both teams, with a colossal aggregate of 523 runs being scored in the entirety of the match, holding the current record for the most runs scored in a T20 match. A few other records were also wiped out - SRH amassing the highest-ever IPL total by posting 277/3 in 20 overs, penetrating the 263-run tally fabricated by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru against the Pune Warriors India, way back in 2013, as well as 38 sixes being hit in the whole match (the most hit in a men's T20).

The demolishers came from SRH's batting lineup - with Travis Head (62 off 24), Abhishek Sharma (63 off 23), Aiden Markram (42 off 28), and Heinrich Klaasen (80* off 34) absolutely bossing the show. While the first two names came up all guns blazing at the outset, sparing none, and bringing their respective half-centuries in 18 and 16 deliveries, the duo from South Africa added the final touches, absolutely rattling the bowling attack owing to their unbeaten 116-run stand off only 55 deliveries.

Amidst the carnage caused by the batters, there was one person who stood out from the rest - a really pronounced outlier to the rest, none other than Jasprit Bumrah, who remarkably went for only 36 runs in his entire quota. However, Tom Moody was shocked by the use of Bumrah in their fight against SRH.

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The well-renowned pundit, who was analyzing the game alongside former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer and Kiwi pacer Mitchell McCleneghan, and who has previously coached SRH from their inception in 2013 to 2019, as well as in 2022, was left bewildered by the fact that the "world's best bowler" in the T20 format was only given a single over during the first ten overs of the SRH innings. Bumrah returned for his second one as late as the 13th over, by the time the game had totally slipped out of MI's control, with SRH's score being 173/3 after 12 overs.

"When you've got the best bowler in the world in this format - if not all formats - and for him to only bowl one over in the first ten overs... to bowl his second over in the 13rd over is extraordinary. "By then, the game's gone, the game's totally gone," Moody said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Moody also stated that he could sort of resonate with the ideology of wanting to proceed with a couple of swing-bowling options in the first couple of overs of the game to extract any amount of swing there is to extricate. He held the belief of having bowled at least a couple from Bumrah inside the powerplay, purely owing to his offerings as a bowler. The fact that the powerplay is meant to bring on a team' wicket-taking bowlers and MI doing exactly the opposite and hence not limiting the damage inflicted on them, didn't strike a chord with him.

"I totally get if they want to use a couple of swing-bowling options in the first or second over, I understand that. But Jasprit Bumrah has to bowl two overs in the powerplay purely because of what he brings to the table. One of the priorities in powerplay cricket is wickets and he is your best wicket-taker, and he always will be your best wicket-taker. And for him and Mumbai to be starved of that opportunity to try and stem the flow of this onslaught is crazy. It just doesn't seem right," Moody added.

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