Former Indian fast bowler Zaheer Khan has opined that the way skipper Jasprit Bumrah batted reflected the team’s positive mindset. Bumrah defended a couple of balls when he was batting with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja against England in the postponed Test match at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Saturday.
However, when Jadeja was dismissed by James Anderson, Bumrah had the license to swing his bat. The Indian captain took on the attack against England’s premier fast bowler, Stuart Broad, who had earlier completed 550 wickets after dismissing Mohammed Shami.
Bumrah took 35 runs (out of which six were extras) against Broad and created a new world record for the most expensive over in Test match history. The right-hander swung hard and a got a couple of edges while he was also able to time two fours and one six in that over.
In fact, the tail once again wagged for India and it must have frustrating for England as they were able to add the crucial runs to help India post 416 runs in the first innings.
Zaheer Khan said while talking to Cricbuzz, “The way Bumrah batted reflects the team’s positive mindset. The momentum is now with India.”
“In this entire England series, the lower-order’s contribution, be it (Mohammad) Shami, (Shardul) Thakur or Bumrah, has been hugely significant. We had seen Bumrah do well at Lord’s as well. Not only him, all the Indian lower-order batters are trying to get better at their batting than where they are now.”
On the other hand, Stuart Broad had earlier taken a beating against former Indian batter Yuvraj Singh, who had smashed him for six sixes in an over in the 2007 T20I World Cup. Zaheer added that Bumrah smashing Broad reminded him of Yuvraj Singh.
“It was a hugely entertaining over. It was surprising that the bowler was Broad again. Bumrah whacking Broad reminded me of Yuvraj’s six sixes. Everyone was wondering what captaincy would do to Bumrah. The added responsibility seems to have made him more agile. The strike rate at which he scored those 30 runs was crucial.”
England were 84-5 at the end of second day’s play and they trail by 332 runs.
