Jasprit Bumrah In Full Flow
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2024-02-04 03:58:47
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
Like old wine, Jasprit Bumrah is getting better as days go by. His fiery spell that spelled doom for England on the second day of the ongoing second Test will be remembered for long. Although the wickets and the records matter but they will be consigned to the pages of the record books and will not bring out the manner in which he set up and breached the defences of some of the best batters in the English side. Two deliveries in particular - the toe-crushing yorker (being referred to as âguided missileâ and âmental yorkerâ on social media) that dismissed Indiaâs first Test tormentor Ollie Pope and the reverse-swinging one that left England captain Ben Stokes dumbstruck - were absolutely unplayable. IPL team Punjab Kings took to X to say this - "Hey Alexa, please play Jasprit Bumrah" and Alexa replies "Sorry, Jasprit Bumrah is unplayable".
Using all his experience of bowling on Indian pitches and his ability to get the old ball to reverse swing, Bumrah was in full control as he never wavered in line, length or direction. They were all there - the one that swings in the air in one direction and then goes the other way after pitching, the one which comes in straight and does magic after landing, the slower one with the same action and of course, the perfectly aimed yorker at express speed. Sourav Ganguly, who has always advocated that rank turners are not required for India to win in home conditions, had his 'I told you so' moment after Bumrah's exhilarating performance. Bumrah later said that to get wickets in India, one has to use reverse swing. He provided a masterclass in the art of reverse swing on the day.
Bumrah took 6 wickets for just 45 runs as England were bowled out for 253 in their first innings. In the process, he became the fastest Indian bowler to take 150 wickets in terms of balls bowled. He has taken just 6781 balls to achieve the milestone.
