Jasprit Bumrah made a surprise visit to the Narendra Modi Stadium, his first public appearance since his return from Australia, to attend Coldplay’s Ahmedabad concert on Sunday.
Lead singer Chris Martin dedicated a song to the India pace spearhead, who has been laid low by back spasms and remains in doubt for the Champions Trophy next month.
Bumrah was also mentioned by the Yellow hitmaker on stage last week during the band’s concert in Mumbai. They had also played a clip of Bumrah dismissing England batter Ollie Pope during the Test series last year.
“Hold on, we have to finish the show because Jasprit Bumrah wants to come and play backstage,” Martin had said.
The Coldplay frontman had joked that the band had received a legal notice from Bumrah’s lawyers for using his name at the concert.
As Martin spoke to the crowd in Ahmedabad on Republic Day, the camera panned on Bumrah in the audience. The 47-year-old then sang an impromptu song for the pacer: “Oh Jasprit Bumrah, my beautiful brother, best bowler in all of cricket”, going on to mention that he “does not enjoy when you destroy England with wicket after wicket after wicket”.
Martin’s song left Bumrah blushing as the crowd cheered the fast bowler’s presence.
Coldplay also displayed Bumrah’s signed Test jersey on stage.
ICC honour
Bumrah was chosen the ICC’s Test Cricketer of the Year on Monday, while big-hitting batter Smriti Mandhana bagged the women’s honour in the ODI format.
Bumrah was a standout performer in the last 12 months during which he took 71 wickets from 13 matches at an average of 14.92.
ICC announced three more awardees from its annual list. The final two honours — the men’s and women’s Cricketer of the Year — will be revealed on Tuesday.
Bumrah is in contention to bag a double after having been named in the Test Team of the Year.