Virat Kohli, Phil Salt given daunting ‘Jasprit Bumrah’ task by RCB teammate: ‘1st ball goes for 4 or 6 from whoever’s…’

Jasprit Bumrah has joined the Mumbai Indians camp right in time to face Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Wankhede Stadium. The five-time champions announced Bumrah's arrival in the camp on the eve of the RCB clash as the premier paceman has given the green signal on fitness from the NCA. In the absence of Bumrah, MI have struggled this season so far with only one win in four matches and now they will be hoping to bounce back with the return of their leader of bowling attack. Virat Kohli and Phil Salt will be facing Jasprit Bumrah on Monday night at Wakhede Stadium.(HT and PTI Images)

Bumrah, who is widely regarded as the best all-format bowler, will be available for selection for the game against RCB, as confirmed by MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene. He trained at the nets on Sunday after joining the MI camp on Saturday night to show his commitment towards the franchise. He will be raring to return to competitive cricket after almost four months as he has been out of action since the fifth test match against Australia earlier this year.

RCB star Tim David, who shared the dressing room with Bumrah at MI last season, talked about the premier pacer's return for the mega clash on Monday.

David is aware of the Bumrah threat and set a big target for RCB openers Virat Kohli and Phil Salt to take down the MI pacer in the first over itself to put some pressure back on him.

“Yeah Bumrah’s pretty widely recognized as the best bowler going around and that’s the challenge we want to have at RCB," David said in the pre-match press conference. “If we’re going to go deep in this tournament, we need to beat the best teams, we need to beat the best players. So, hopefully Bumrah is bowling the first over tomorrow night and the first ball goes for 4 or 6 from whoever’s opening the batting for us, that’ll be a statement. It’ll be great to have him back playing in the tournament because the game’s better with him in it," he added.

“Just try and get my toes out of the way”

Meanwhile, David himself is ready to be challenged by the best in the business but he admitted that he try to get his toes out of way to avoid Bumrah's lethal yorkers.

“I’ll just try and get my toes out of the way, he’s got a pretty lethal yorker. He’s a brilliant bowler and when you put in big performances against the best teams, against the best players, they’re the best feelings you get as a player. So you want to be challenged by the best and I’m looking forward to that," he added.

Click here to read article