India star Jasprit Bumrah is so far ahead of rivals he is like T20 cricket’s Lionel Messi

Arshdeep Singh has taken more wickets than Jasprit Bumrah for India at the T20 World Cup in the United States and Caribbean. Kuldeep Yadav has a better strike rate than him.

In the semi-final against England in Guyana on Thursday, Bumrah only bowled 16 balls. Axar Patel and Kuldeep each claimed more scalps than he did in a win which was largely indebted to India’s excellent batting anyway.

And yet Bumrah remains, by a margin, the seminal figure in the best side in T20 international cricket.

So far ahead of the rest is he, it is like watching a T20 version of Lionel Messi. Yes, others are able to flourish, as the likes of Xavi and Andres Iniesta did in Messi’s peak Barcelona years. But when it matters, Bumrah matters. The game is decided when he has the ball.

The boy next door with the homespun bowling technique is not entirely unplayable, in the sense he beats either edge at will. But he is such a persistent threat that opposition batters have to be so risk averse it is like they are playing 16-over games rather than 20.

Take the classic encounter between India and Pakistan in New York in the group stage. Pakistan were well placed in chasing 120 to win. Against a side with merely a very good leading bowler, they would have likely got over the line and won that game.

But Bumrah did not let it happen. He allowed basically nil margin for error from Pakistan’s batters. He only missed his mark with two of the 24 deliveries he bowled in that game. Such was the pressure he had created, he took the wicket of Iftikhar Ahmed off one of those anyway, when the surprised batter shovelled a leg-stump full toss to a fielder.

Against England in the semi-final, his role was vital, too. Even if, with the benefit of hindsight, India’s