Jasprit Bumrah got India the first breakthrough of the first Test against England at Headingley before inducing three more edges from the English batters in the next two overs. Bumrah dismissed Zak Crawley for just four runs with a ball that flummoxed the batter and tickled the bat’s edge before flying into the palms of Karun Nair at first slip. Bumrah then almost got Ben Duckett on the first ball of his second over, but the ball fell just short of Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully. In his third over, Bumrah induced an edge from Ollie Pope and Duckett but both times the ball unfortunately flew slightly wide or short of the slip cordon fielders. On the final ball of his fourth over, an edge from Bumrah’s bowling (once again of Duckett) finally flew, but Ravindra Jadeja dropped it at backward point.
“He’s created almost two opportunities in every over he’s bowled so far,” observed former India cricketer-turned commentator Dinesh Karthik. “He’s definitely the most valuable player going around in world cricket across formats. When he has the ball in his hand, there’s something he will do with it.”
The Indian team are looking at Bumrah to produce the goods with the ball especially with England having a menacing record in home conditions, in the Bazball era.
At home conditions in the Bazball era, most of the key England batters have strike rates that breach the 70 mark. Joe Root’s 1783 runs have come at a SR of 71, Ollie Pope’s 1352 runs have come at strike rate of 76, Ben Duckett has 1007 runs at strike rate of 89, captain Ben Stokes has scored 974 runs at 71 SR, and Harry Brook has totalled 819 runs at a SR of 78.
Before the current Test in Leeds, Bumrah had scalped 60 wickets at an average of 22.16 in 14 games against England. This included 37 wickets away from home.
The England team will have harrowing memories of Bumrah from last year, when in four Tests, the Indian pacer claimed 19 wickets at an average of 16.9. He had a best bowling figures of 6/45.
What’s also notable is that in the head-to-head battle against one of England’s top batters, Joe Root, Bumrah has claimed the batter’s wicket nine times in 24 innings (an average of 31.8).
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After dismissing Zak Crawley in the 1st over of the Headingley Test, Bumrah drew level with Wasim Akram to be the joint highest wicket-taker in SENA countries from Asia. Both bowlers have claimed 146 wickets in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries. While Bumrah claimed his wickets in 60 innings, Akram got his in 55 innings. The duo is followed by Anil Kumble (141 wickets from 67 innings), Ishant Sharma (130 from 71) and Mohammed Shami (123 from 63).
Jasprit Bumrah of India celebrating the wicket of Ollie Pope of England during the 2nd day of the second test match between India and England held at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam on the 3rd February 2024. (Sportzpics)
England came in to bat with a little bit of a delay due to a slight drizzle in Leeds, which interrupted the game right after India were bundled out for 471 runs.
Three Indian batters — Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant — racked up centuries to make England bowlers look hapless before seven wickets fell in the span of just 41 runs.
Bumrah recently revealed that he had refused to take up India’s Test captaincy after Rohit Sharma retired because he was not going to play in all Tests of series.
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Against England, Bumrah said he would likely play only in three Tests.
“There’s no fancy stories to it. There is no controversy or there are no headlining statements that I was sacked or I was not looked after,” Bumrah told Sky Sports before the series started. “Before Rohit and Virat retired during the IPL, I had spoken to the BCCI. I had discussed my workload going forward in a five Test match series. I spoke to the surgeon, who told me to be smart about the workload. So I did speak to him and then we came to a conclusion that I have to be a little more smart. So then I called the BCCI and said I don’t want to be looked at for a leadership role. Because I won’t be able to play all matches in a five -match series. So yes, the BCCI was looking at me, but then I had to say no, because it’s not fair for the team as well as you know in a five-match series, three matches somebody else is leading, two matches, somebody else. It’s not fair on the team,” Bumrah explained.
