Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will take on Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians (MI) at their home after a dismal performance against MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Chepauk’s spin-friendly track in the IPL 2019 opener.
Batting first, RCB were bowled out for a mere 70 in that match.
The Royal Challengers is expected to play on a better and batsman suited pitch in Bengaluru on Thursday. Bowlers may not bother the batsmen much as Chinnaswamy doesn’t offer much to them, however, RCB is still worried about the MI speedster Jasprit Bumrah.
Kohli might have faced Bumrah a lot in the nets while playing for India, but not all RCB batsmen are comfortable with the unorthodox bowling action of the Indian fast bowler.
And ahead of the crucial encounter, the 22-year-old Mahesh Kumar, a net bowler was summoned by RCB’s think tank to try and get their batsmen used to Jasprit Bumrah.
All the while, the real Bumrah was watching intently from the Mumbai Indians nets, where he was chatting with Kohli and had a quiet chuckle as he saw the uncanny resemblance – Mahesh’s action is like Bumrah’s.
Mahesh has already been nicknamed ‘Junior Bumrah’ in the RCB camp. In his Under-19 days, he was on the fringes of the Karnataka squad. But Mahesh hasn’t yet quite made the grade at any serious level. He still has one year to make into the state Under-23 squad and is currently looking for a club in Bengaluru’s first-division league.
Here’s the video:
Have RCB found their Jasprit Bumrah? 🤔 #IPL2019 pic.twitter.com/ib4C2oCSFW
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) March 26, 2019
