'For him (Jasprit Bumrah) and Mumbai to be starved of that opportunity to try and stem the flow of this onslaught is crazy. It doesn't seem right.'
Mumbai Indians missed a trick by holding back Jasprit Bumrah in the opening six powerplay overs, Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Heinrich Klaasen said after his side pummelled the five-times champions to post the highest Indian Premier League (IPL) total.
Fans were left scratching their heads when Mumbai, under new captain Hardik Pandya after he replaced Rohit Sharma this year, opted to take Indian paceman Bumrah out of the attack after he bowled the fourth over on Wednesday.
Bumrah returned in the 13th over, by which time Hyderabad had made 173-3. Klaasen went on a late onslaught to score 80 off 34 balls while Aiden Markram hit 42 off 28 balls.
With Travis Head earlier scoring 62 and Abhishek Sharma putting up 63 Hyderabad finished 277-3 in 20 overs.
Mumbai pushed hard in reply but lost the game by 31 runs, posting 246-5.
"They didn't bowl their best bowler in the powerplay ... that was our plan," Klaasen told the official broadcaster.
"They missed a trick up front. We've got incredible strikers up front in our batting line-up. They just set the tempo, so our work was basically done."
Bumrah finished 0-36 in four overs of work.
Bumrah was the second-most economical bowler in the match, after SRH captain Pat Cummins (2/35), conceding 36 runs in his four overs which did not yield any wicket.
"I was perplexed with some of their bowling changes in the first innings for Mumbai. Bumrah bowled in the fourth over, he went for 5 and then we didn't see him again till the 13th over when they were on 173," Smith told host broadcaster Star Sports.
"All the damage had been done, you needed your best bowler to be coming back and take some wickets in that period and I think they missed a trick there bringing him back only in the 13th over," he pointed out.
"I think he got a few things wrong, and that was the main one for me. I mean you can't have one of the best bowlers in the world bowling one over."
Smith said Bumrah's late reintroduction into the attack rendered him ineffective.
"When the ball is going around like that, you've just got to bring your best bowler back earlier than you would have liked. It's just about adapting on the go and I'd have almost bowled Bumrah out by the 15th, 16th over, try to get some wickets, if he gets wickets, you slow the rate down anyway.
"If the guy is batting at the end, doesn't matter who is bowling, we saw that really with Bumrah in the last two overs and he still got smacked with the bat at the back end," he explained.
"So if he came back earlier and had taken some risks, things would have been really different and they got 277 and they could have been reduced to 240 and might have chased those down, so I was just perplexed that he bowled only one over up until the 13th over."
Former Sunrisers coach Tom Moody echoed the duo's views while analysing the game for ESPNcricinfo.
"I totally get if they want to use a couple of swing bowling options in the first or second over," the Australian said.
"But Bumrah has to bowl two overs in the powerplay because of what he brings to the table. One of the priorities in powerplay is wickets and he's your best wicket-taker. He always will be. For him and Mumbai to be starved of that opportunity to try and stem the flow of this onslaught is crazy. It doesn't seem right."
