Mumbai Indians are still basking in the emotion of their fourth Indian Premier League (IPL) triumph after defeating Chennai Super Kings by 1 run in Hyderabad on Sunday. The boys have been on top of the world since beating CSK in the final and even celebrated the triumph with fans in an open bus Champions Parade through the streets on Mumbai on Monday.

One player whose contribution to our win on Sunday night, which cannot be understated, is Jasprit Bumrah. He finished the season as our top wicket-taker with 19 scalps and was Man of the Match in the final for his game-defining spell of 2 for 14. Shortly after the final, our icon, the legendary Sachin Tendulakar went on record to state that Bumrah is currently the best in the world with the ball.

“We had a discussion during the breaktime and we felt – possibly – that we were about 15 runs short during the break. But the track when the spinners bowled, it was getting a bit sticky. Rahul (Chahar) bowled beautifully along with that I think (Jasprit) Bumrah was fantastic. He’s a special bowler. Without any doubt, let me go on record and say: He is the best bowler in the world at the moment and the best is yet to come, hopefully,” Sachin told Yuvraj Singh in a fun interview with iplt20.com after the match.

Yuvi agreed with Sachin’s assessment and also added: “I think his action is very awkward (to bat against) and I think it’s tough to understand at what pace it’s coming. I think he’s bowling the best I’ve seen in his career.”

Sachin had also touched upon the importance of Bumrah’s overs in the middle phase in a separate interview after the game. “The patches where Bumrah came and bowled those critical overs (in the middle) after (Lasith) Malinga went for that expensive over (were important). Bumrah came and kind of evened that out a bit. And then again when Krunal (Pandya) gave away some runs, Bumrah came back very hard and then the last over I thought Malinga finished it off beautifully,” he said.

Bumrah’s inspired spell in the final saw him become just the second bowler to be awarded the Man of the Match in an IPL final. He ended the campaign fifth on the wicket-taking chart with 19 scalps at an average of 21.52 and an economy of 6.63. Based on his IPL form, it’s safe to say that opposition batsmen won’t be looking forward to squaring up against Bumrah at the World Cup. After all, he is the number 1 ranked ODI bowler in the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings.