'Credit to the...,' says Jasprit Bumrah for successful return to international cricket after 1st Ireland T20I

India pacer Jasprit Bumrah made a long-awaited return to international cricket during the 1st T20I against Ireland on Friday, August 18. The pacer, who also led the side, played a pivotal role in India's 2-run win via Duckworth-Lewis System (DLS) as rain played spoilsport.

Bumrah bowled the very first over the match after Ireland were asked to bat first in Dublin and delivered a double-wicket over. The over set the tone for the rest of Ireland's innings as they managed just 139/7 in 20 overs. After the match, Bumrah spoke about how he felt about playing after so long and thanked the National Cricket Academy (NCA) staff for his recovery.

“(I) felt very good. So many sessions I did at the NCA and the practice games. Didn't feel like I missed out a lot or I'm doing something new so credit to the staff there,” Bumrah said.

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Asked if he felt any nerves during the game, the stand-in skipper replied 'no,' saying captaincy took his mind off his own performance.

“Very happy to be back and always good to contribute. [Any nerves?] Not really, when you're captaining you are thinking more about the whole team and not just your own performance,” said the 29-year-old pacer.

Speaking about the team's performance, Bumrah said he was happy that weather was helpful for the bowlers.

“Very happy that the weather was helpful for the bowlers. In every game you want more and you always search for a perfect game. Credit to them as well for keeping their nerves in a crisis,” added Bumrah.

Chasing 140, India managed to get off to a rollicking start and scored 47 in about six and a half overs for the loss of no wickets. The visitors, however, lost two wickets in two balls on the fourth and fifth ball of the seventh over before the rain stopped play.

India were ahead by two runs according to DLS at the time players went off and eventually won the game by the same margin to take 1-0 lead in the three-T20I series.

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