Jasprit Bumrah waged a lone battle over the last two days in contrasting conditions in Leeds as his 14th Test five-wicket haul bundled England out for 465 on the third day. Bumrah’s special feat was, however, not enough to hand India a decisive advantage as fellow seamers Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna’s profligate outings, conceding over 240 runs together, meant that India’s first-innings score of 471 offered minimal momentum while heading into the second essay.
While Bumrah equalled Kapil Dev with his 12th five-wicket haul in away conditions among Indian pacers, Siraj and Prasidh marked a dubious record as the first two Indian seamers to concede more than 120 runs in the same innings in 10 years since January 2015. While Bumrah said that he understood the struggles of his fellow pacers in dicey and mercurial conditions, that witnessed a chilly changeover in contrast to the opening day, when the visitors batted under unusually glorious sunshine. With Bumrah slated to play a maximum of three games in the five-Test series as yet, he hoped the rest of the pace unit would step up.
When asked about his workload and support received from fellow seamers on the Test Match Special, Bumrah said: “Obviously, we are heading towards a transition. A lot of the bowlers are playing here for the first time.
“We, in India, are used to playing on flat grounds. This is slopey, up and down. So, sometimes, new bowlers bowling here can take time to adjust and fight in the right length. So, yeah, this is the experience that I try to share,” said the 31-year-old Bumrah after bowling 24.4 overs, a quarter of the entire English innings.
The match was delicately placed at the close of play with India 90 for two in the second innings, steadied by KL Rahul and skipper Shubman Gill. Bumrah said India would want to bat as long as possible to put a stiff target for England on a wicket that he regarded as still bound together nicely.
“It’s not a spicy wicket by any sort of imaginations. Maybe, going further, a lot of cricket will be played. So, it might go up and down and become a little too paced. That is what we are observing. But nothing too fancy or there are no demons in the wicket. It’s swinging from outside leg or it is massive banana swing. Nothing that I observed,” remarked Bumrah.
Bumrah also touched upon the slew of catches that went down in the field, one that might have deprived him of some of his ever-smiling and pleasant demeanour on the field with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ravindra Jadeja accounting for four dropped chances of his bowling.
“See, I like to play cricket. I like to enjoy my time whenever I’m there at the outfield. So, that is why I smile. Drop catches, I understand nobody’s purposely doing it. And, obviously, everyone is trying their best. Cold weather, the ball sometimes is difficult to sight over here as well. So, I do understand. But, yeah, some things are part and parcel of the game. I don’t want to let it affect me and then affect my future spell. So, I try and forget it as soon as possible and quickly move forward.”
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