“Jasprit Bumrah ne kya bowling kiya bhai! (How well did Jasprit Bumrah bowl, dude!)”

Take a local train in Mumbai today and chances are that you’ll overhear conversations about how Mumbai Indians pulled a rabbit out of their collective hats with that one-run win over Rising Pune Supergiant. “How did Pune manage to lose that?”, ‘How good is Bumrah?”. Those are the lines you are likely to hear multiple times as the Mumbaikars celebrate their team’s near-miraculous win.

Make no mistake, MI had no business winning that match. Slow pitch or otherwise, it was Pune’s match to lose. Chasing 130, only an extraordinary batting failure or an out-of-the-world bowling performance could have given Rohit Sharma his third Indian Premier League title as captain.

As it turned out, it was combination of the two factors that sealed the deal for Mumbai Indians.

While it’s easy to criticise the Pune batsmen for messing up a relatively straight-forward run-chase, take nothing away from Mumbai’s bowling unit.

Bumrah, of course, was the one everyone could not stop talking about. Mitchell McClenaghan said after the match that he wasn’t sure Indian cricket fans realise just how big a talent Bumrah is. Shane Bond, Mumbai’s bowling coach, couldn’t stop gushing about his ward. Mitchell Johnson spoke of the Indian pacer’s brilliance too and wished him a great career, except against Australia.

Bumrah, it seemed, was the toast of the Paltan’s post-match celebrations and rightly so. He was used almost extensively as a death bowler for most of this IPL but given the new ball in Mumbai’s last two matches, he got the first breakthrough on both occasions – Chris Lynn in the qualifier and Rahul Tripathi in the final.

And then he returned at the death, as he always does. If there was one over that changed the match decisively in favour of Mumbai it was his third and the innings’ 17th. With 33 required from 24 balls, MS Dhoni and Smith at the crease, Pune were still the favourites. But just like he did on that famous night in Bangalore during the World Twenty20 against Bangladesh, Bumrah produced magic. Dhoni, who has traditionally struggled against Bumrah, except in the first qualifier a few days back, was sent back to the dug-out. Two loud LBW appeals followed against Manoj Tiwary and just like that the equation became 30 off the 3 overs.

Before that final flourish, came the squeeze. Karn Sharma, who managed to bench Harbhajan Singh for the playoffs, followed up his man-of-the-match performance against KKR with an equally important spell in the final. His figures of 4-0-18-0 are not special but what that doesn’t tell you is that 50% of the balls that he bowled were dots. And as Ravi Shastri would tell you, dot balls are like gold dust. Along with Krunal Pandya, Sharma laid the platform for the death specialists to weave their magic.

Lasith Malinga is not the force he once was. He doesn’t bowl six yorkers back-to-back anymore. He bowls full-tosses, he bowls wides, his slower balls are easier to pick. But in the final, he stepped up. He followed up Bumrah’s 17th with a vintage over of his own. Smith managed to hit one boundary, but with the required rate at 10 and climbing, a seven-run over was phenomenal.

And then there was Johnson. That’s now two big T20 finals that he has won for his franchises, post-retirement no less. The Big Bash League saw his breathe fire at the top, and the IPL final was witness to his ability to hold the nerves at the death. Rohit’s decision to stick with him despite McClenaghan’s form this year was vindicated as he defended 11 runs in the final over.

“There was assistance from the pitch, so it was a matter of exploiting the conditions. When three overs were left, I had confidence in the bowlers. They have always done the job wherever they’ve played. It was about giving freedom to them because they’re the masters and they’ve done it before. I just told them to do whatever they want and set the field accordingly,” Rohit said after match.

For the second season in running, the bowlers delivered for the IPL champions. Sunrisers Hyderabad did it against Royal Challengers Bangalore last year. Mumbai Indians did it against Rising Pune Supergiant.

And in the time of big bats and small grounds, that is a wonderful thing.