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Former South African fast bowler Dale Steyn has backed MI superstar Jasprit Bumrah to win the Purple Cap in IPL 2027 after the Indian fast bowler’s poor performance in IPL 2026.
Bumrah’s inability to be aggressive throughout the tournament, coupled with the poor form of the key batsmen, meant that Mumbai Indians finished ninth on the points table in IPL 2026, only avoiding the wooden spoon on net run rate.
Bumrah’s poor season and his inability to take wickets was a shock to fans and experts. Without his accuracy, MI’s other bowlers also could not pick up the slack, and this resulted in MI missing the playoffs for the third time in the last five years.
“He will come back stronger” – Dale Steyn
Steyn was speaking on the YouTube channel of his good friend and former teammate AB de Villiers. He said that it would not be difficult for a bowler of Jasprit Bumrah’s caliber to bounce back from this setback.
To emphasize his point, Steyn gave the example of Bumrah’s brilliant performance in the T20 World Cup just before the IPL.
Steyn said, “He had just won the World Cup a month and a half ago, you know, and he was probably one of the bowlers of the tournament, you know. So no, you can’t focus mainly on him. He’s had a bad tournament. There have been good batsmen in this IPL who haven’t got on the field. OK. It shows the human being he is. He’ll come back stronger and next season he’ll probably win the Purple Cap, you know.”
Jasprit Bumrah has never won the Purple Cap before in his IPL career. His best performance in that table came in 2020 when he finished second behind Kagiso Rabada.
“He is the best bowler in the world” – AB de Villiers
In the same discussion, AB de Villiers also called Jasprit Bumrah one of the best bowlers in the world. He said that whatever has troubled him this year, Bumrah will definitely come back stronger.
De Villiers said, “This is the worst IPL of Bumrah’s life. I think he averages over 100 this year. I mean, there are many reasons for it, and I still think he is the greatest bowler in all formats around the world. So that hasn’t changed. One bad performance doesn’t take away a player’s class. He will come back. There’s no doubt about that.”
Jasprit Bumrah in IPL 2026
In IPL 2026, Jasprit Bumrah gave the most un-Bumrah-esque performance of his life. After being rested from MI’s last match, Bumrah finished with one of the worst tournaments by a T20 bowler, statistically.
This season, he took just 4 wickets in 13 matches at a bowling average of 102.50, but at an economy rate of 8.36. In no match did Bumrah take more than one wicket at a time.
Bumrah’s bowling average of 102.50 in IPL 2026 is the worst by any bowler who has bowled a minimum of 40 overs in a single T20 tournament.
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