Jasprit Bumrah put on a show with the ball on his much-awaited comeback to the Indian team after recovering from a recurring back injury.

While leading India in the first T20I against Ireland in Dublin on Friday (August 18), Bumrah bowled a fiery spell. After conceding a first-ball boundary to Andy Balbirnie, the right-arm quick produced a stunning inswinger to dismiss the Irish opener.

Bumrah also got rid of No. 3 Lorcan Tucker in the very first over as the latter edged one behind to Sanju Samson. The ace pacer eventually returned with the figures of 2 for 24 in his four overs and earned the Player-of-the-Match award.

After the game, India leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi said it was good to see Bumrah back in rhythm on his return to the national side after 11 months.

“It was his first match nearly after 11 months. First ball he bowled was on the legs but after that the five balls he bowled was so good to see. Everyone was waiting for this Bumrah and it was so good to see him back in his rhythm,” Bishnoi told reporters.

Coming to the match, India restricted the hosts to 139/7 in their allotted 20 overs. Besides Bumrah, Bishnoi (2-23) and Prasidh Krishna (2-32) also returned with two scalps each.

In reply, the Men in Blue were 47/2 after 6.5 overs when rain forced the players to go out of the field. They never returned and the visitors were declared winners by two runs via the DLS method.

Bishnoi said they bowled well as a unit and acknowledged that they got lucky with the toss.

“We were a bit unfortunate that the match was curtailed by the rain. Overall, we have played a good cricket. We bowled really well and got good start from our openers as well. If not for those weickets, we lost in the last over, we might have been in a very good condition,” Bishnoi said.

“We won the toss and we got that advantage. If they would have won the advantage would have been with them. Toss always plays a crucial factor in such conditions. Today we were lucky,” he added.

On Irish batters being defensive against him, the leg-spinner said: “It must be there game play. But I was bowling aggressively and was trying to pick more wickets.”

Bishnoi was part of the Indian squad that recently lost the five-match T20I series 3-2 to West Indies. He featured only in the second T20I when Kuldeep Yadav was ruled out due to a thumb injury.

“There is lot to learn. I was in West Indies for the five-match series, I played in one match and didn’t played the rest four. But I was ready that whenever I will get a chance I will give by 100 per cent. I was ready for that opportunity,” he said.

During the rain-curtailed first T20I, the hosts showed that they are not going to be a pushover in the remaining games and Bishnoi made it clear that they are not taking Ireland lightly.

“In T20 format, you can’t relax against any team. In this format, the game can be changed in one over. In the last over as per DLS we were leading by 10 or 12 runs and then we lost two quick wickets and then suddenly the difference was of one run. In shorter format there are no favourites,” he remarked.

(The Indian Express Inputs)