Bumrah shares valuable advice to on mastering Dukes ball, English conditions: 'The length has to...'

Jasprit Bumrah isn’t just the standout bowler in the current Indian attack; he certainly makes a strong case for being rated as the world’s best across formats in the current generation, and is also among the greatest bowlers to have played the game.

And he has stood out from other bowlers in the first Test against England at Headingley , where he registered his 14th Test five-for in the first innings to help India collect a slender six-run lead and is also carrying the hopes of his team and a billion fans in Gill and Co’s defence of a 371-run target.

Bumrah compares Dukes and Kookaburra balls

Ahead of start of play on the fifth day, Bumrah shared some insights into operating with the Dukes ball and what it takes to be an effective bowler in English conditions, advice which Mohammed Siraj and the rest of the Indian seamers need to implement on the final day as well as in the remainder of the ongoing series.

“In Australia, there is more seam movement than swing with the Kookaburra ball and the wickets have more bounce. Over here, with the Dukes ball, the length has to be a little fuller to make ball swing and talk,” Bumrah said in an interview ahead of start of play.

“I have learnt this over the years, all these adjustments – this is my third Test tour here. So I have gathered that something it came take time to do that, especially coming from the IPL, where with the white-ball, you bowl the back of a length ball, use variations.

“In the preparation that was the communication that was going on from me to the bowlers as well, that you need to bowl a little fuller and try to forget the ODI length,” he added.

Bumrah remained the standout Indian bowler at the end of the morning session on Day 5, conceding 21 runs from nine overs, with Siraj and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja also bowling economical spells.

Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur, however, continued to struggle at Headingley as they leaked 38 and 17 runs respectively at a rate above six and five per over respectively as openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley helped England race to 117/0 at lunch.