In his first season with the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL), Jasprit Bumrah played with Sachin Tendulkar. Twelve years later, the Ahmedabad native is regarded as one of the best pacers in history.
Bumrah ended with stats of 3/32 in his IPL debut match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). He took out Karun Nair, Virat Kohli, and Mayank Agarwal.
Given that he was up against some of the sport’s biggest names, Bumrah said that he was a little nervous before the match. He was able to relax, though, after the renowned Tendulkar offered him some wise counsel.
Sachin Tendulkar was still playing when I arrived. It was his final year. The level of cricket is so high and so different from under-19 cricket when a 19-year-old first enters this environment and is surrounded by such game legends.
“I was a little overwhelmed,” Jasprit Bumrah admitted during a Sportstar promotional event.
When I played my first game, however, he warned me not to look at the person before the game began. Instead of bowling to the name, bowl to the batsman. That was really helpful to me,” he continued.
Jasprit Bumrah believes MI’s IPL 2025 peak came at the ideal moment.
The Mumbai Indians had a dismal start to the 2025 Indian Premier League, dropping four of their opening five games. Since then, though, they have gone on an incredible six-game winning streak. The five-time champions, in Bumrah’s opinion, have peaked at the right moment in the competition.
As a team, we got off to a poor start. However, we peaked just in time for the tournament’s business end. The fast bowler remarked, “It’s a very good sign for us because we are not dependent on one individual to win us the game.”
On Tuesday, May 6, the Hardik Pandya-led team will play the Gujarat Titans at Mumbai’s famed Wankhede Stadium.