Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has heaped praise on young fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah for overcoming a horror start to bowl his tense late overs, which eventually turned out to be crucial in India's nerve-wracking one-run win over Bangladesh in their penultimate league game of the World Twenty20 in Bengaluru.
The 22-year-old right-hander cost his side four runs with a mis-field on the boundary line and then dropped a simple catch to dismiss dangerous Tamim Iqbal, who eventually wreaked havoc on Bumrah by hitting four fours in the sixth over.
However, Bumrah displayed a tremendous amount of resilience to stage an inspiring comeback as he conceded mere 13 runs in his crucial 17th and 19th overs.
"After the first misfield, if you see actually his international career, this was the first game where he was under pressure," Dhoni told reporters while addressing the post-match press conference. "It's not only the pressure of bowling. I consider him slightly weak when it comes to the fielding department and today's game was very important. We all knew how important it was. To start, the very first ball if you miss, as a youngster you are under pressure and I feel that actually reflected in his bowling also, then he dropped a catch.
"It's important at that point of time to tell him that it doesn't really matter because what has happened has happened. You can't do anything about it. Even if you sit there for half an hour, the batsman won't get out. What was important was to get away from it and at the same time try to execute your plans, what your strength is. But I felt when he came for the second over where he went for runs, I don't think he was completely out of it. So after that we had one more conversation. I won't say what I said but definitely it worked," added Dhoni.
The captain also believes that such performances under intense pressure would be a valuable learning curve for young players Hardik Pandya and Bumrah, insisting that they can take this experience through the rest of the tournament and beyond in their careers.
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"Somebody like Hardik or Bumrah, this was a first proper interaction with pressure and what pressure can really do. So I feel they must have learned a lot out of this game and these are the games that really make you better players because it pushes you to think in a different way, pushes you to have that confidence in your strength at the time when it's really needed. So I think it was a very good game for us," said Dhoni.
Bangladesh were on course to pull off their first ever T20 win over India, needing only two runs off the last three bowls.
However, in a miraculous turnaround, India kept their semifinals hopes alive after dismissing three Bangladeshi batsmen in the last three deliveries off all-rounder Hardik Pandya's over.
Bangladesh saw themselves crash out of the T20 format's pinnacle event after falling agonizingly short of one run following Dhoni's incredible work with one glove to run out Mustafizur Rahman in the last ball of the game.
India will next play against Australia in their fourth group game in Mohali on Sunday in a bid to secure their spot in the semifinals.