 "Jasprit Bumrah has surprised the experts with his reaction to the catch drops by Indian fielders. Image: AP")
Jasprit Bumrah has come out in defence of Indian fielders after he suffered a horrific outing on Day 2 and 3 of the ongoing Headingley Test, dropping at least five catches as England scored 465. With the help of Indian fielders, England batters cut down the deficit to just six runs despite Bumrah taking a fifer .
Three catches were dropped off Bumrah’s bowling, including two from Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had a horrible time at gully, and one by the veteran Ravindra Jadeja.
Bumrah defends Indian fielders
Nonetheless, Bumrah defended his fielders, saying that they are not dropping catches “intentionally.”
“I am disappointed for a second when catches are dropped. It’s part and parcel of the game, and the guys are new and working so hard. I don’t want to create a scene and put more pressure on them. Nobody is doing it intentionally. So they will learn from this experience," Bumrah said.
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The 31-year-old pacer added that he tries not to dwell too much on dropped catches and moves on quickly. “Sometimes the cold makes it difficult to catch. I try not to let it affect me and move forwards quickly.”
Record-breaking fifer for Bumrah
While Bumrah took five wickets, the rest of the Indian bowlers had a very tough time. Prasidh Krishna leaked runs at an economy of 6.4 despite taking three wickets and Mohammed Siraj at 4.5 (he took two wickets.)
Jadeja went wicketless and Shardul Thakur was only used for six overs.
With his latest five-wicket hail Bumrah became the first Asian bowler to claim 150 Test wickets in SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia). He also equalled R Ashwin’s record for the most five-wicket hauls in the World Test Championship — both now have 11, though Bumrah reached the mark in just 36 matches compared to Ashwin’s 41.
Impact Shorts
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Additionally, Bumrah became the first Indian bowler to take three five-wicket hauls in England and matched Kapil Dev’s record of 12 five-fors in overseas Tests.
The former captain is not expected to play at least two matches in the five-match series due to his back issues, which will come as a big blow for India. But Bumrah added that he doesn’t think about the future during a match.
During the game, he is only focused on outsmarting the batters. “No. You don’t look at what is going to happen in the future,” Bumrah said. “You are there in the ground, in the moment. You have to do a job. At the moment, I’m trying to assess the wicket. I’m trying to assess what is happening. What are my options? How is the wicket behaving? Who is the batter here? What is he thinking? How do I outsmart him? What does the team require?
“I look at all of those things at that moment. I was not thinking about what will happen. How many games am I supposed to play at this moment? Focusing on the Test match. When the match is over, then you think about all these combinations.”