In sports in general and cricket in particular, the winner will inevitably be the team that exerts the most pressure and absorbs it best. There, perhaps, would be no better illustration of this mantra than the 18th over of England's chase at the Wankhede last night. With 45 needed off three overs, India gambled on Jasprit Bumrah's final over.

"We needed three sixes for the equation to be completely different. On a ground like that, three sixes can happen in the blink of an eye," Brendon McCullum would later tell Sky Sports, the English broadcaster. For a side that had been smashing boundaries and sixes at will - 21 fours and 15 sixes in all - a couple of hits to the fence, if not exactly three sixes at that stage, were in order.

But they ran into Bumrah. He mixed slower ones and yorkers with metronomic precision in his final over. Forget three sixes - England managed just six runs from the six deliveries. "Bumrah is the best bowler in the world and he executed brilliantly and shut the game down," McCullum would admit after India beat them by seven runs to reach the final.

Jacob Bethell and Sam Curran, who had orchestrated the chase well until that point, could not answer the call of their coach, who was on the walkie-talkie. Their 50-run sixth-wicket stand had come off just 27 deliveries, but there was little leeway in that Bumrah over. They failed to force the pace against Bumrah, who kept pounding yorker after yorker in that crucial over.

There was one full-length delivery that could have been put away, but Curran failed to take advantage. It seemed clear that Bethell and Curran were playing the bowler - and his reputation - rather than the situation. Bumrah, on the other hand, was playing the match situation rather than the batters.

The plan for Bethell and Curran, seemingly, was to see Bumrah off and go after the bowlers in the final two overs, but scoring 39 runs off the last 12 deliveries was never going to be easy, particularly after Hardik Pandya conceded just nine in the penultimate over. Shivam Dube completed the job in the final over without much ado, but it was the 18th over that set up the victory for India when England were threatening to pull off an improbable chase of 254.

To say that his figures of one for 33 in four overs, in a match where England's batters launched a counterattacking rampage in pursuit of 254, proved decisive would be an understatement. It was the defining over of the match and, if one were to stretch the point, Bumrah's four overs were the most vital phase of the contest. In those overs, Bethell-led England - otherwise inventive and proactive in their boundary hitting on the night - failed to sustain their momentum, managing just four boundaries in 24 deliveries.

"All credit goes to Jasprit Bumrah, the world-class bowler, once-in-a-generation bowler. I think that's what he delivered today. This (award) should go to him actually. If we didn't bowl that way in the death overs, I think I would not be standing here. All credit goes to the bowlers, how they backed themselves in the tough conditions," Sanju Samson, the Player of the Match, said explaining the Bumrah impact in the match.

Bumrah has picked up 10 wickets so far in the World Cup and also boasts the best economy rate of 6.62 - the best among pacers who have bowled more than 20 overs in the tournament. Different batters have stepped up for India in different matches, but Bumrah has been the side's most consistent performer and he has kept the opposition guessing with his variations.

"We all know what he's capable of and what he's done for India over the years (on Jasprit Bumrah). He did the same thing again today, raised his hand and showed character to pull the game away from them. It was a special bowling performance," India skipper Suryakumar Yadav said of Bumrah's performance on the night.

Bumrah largely stuck to a fuller length, and the most striking delivery of the night came with his very first one (in the fifth over of the innings). A slower one pitched up, it caught Harry Brook by surprise as he went through with his pre-meditated lob, only to be deceived. It was a killer delivery first up, and the only thing better than the ball itself was Axar Patel's stunning catch, running back towards the point boundary.

Bumrah's slower delivery is special for its degree of deception. While the grip makes it look like an off-spinning slower one, it does not exactly turn like an off-spin. Instead, it gains forward and upward momentum - what bowlers often call lift. Batters frequently end up playing too early, as Brook did on the night. Like many players with a long, high backlift, Brook struggled to adjust to the change of pace.

"He's a very good bowler, arguably the best of all time at the minute. And yeah, he's been a very good bowler for a long time. The Indians fielded extremely well. That catch is arguably one of the best catches I've seen as well. So yeah hats off to them," a disappointed Brook said rather stoically.

Bumrah was introduced later in the innings, with skipper Suryakumar holding him back to target Brook, arguably the most dangerous batter in the England camp. Instead, England found an unlikely hero in Bethell, who displayed remarkable enterprise with his boundary-hitting skills and went on to score a century. Yet India's pacers, led by Bumrah, eventually stymied England's charge on a day when the spinners failed miserably, conceding 99 runs in seven overs.

"They needed 13 runs an over and were getting two boundaries almost every over. At the middle stage it looked very easy for them. But the way our bowlers came back... the quality we have in Arshdeep (Singh), Hardik and Bumrah - he is a once-in-a-generation bowler and we are very lucky to have him... there was confidence," said Samson after India booked a berth in the final, managing to stave off England's assault on the target of 254, which did not appear as steep as it should have.