India vs England: James Anderson's refusal to accept Jasprit Bumrah's apology 'ignited a fire' in everyone, says R Sridhar

The Indian pacers were on fire in the recently-concluded Lord’s Test as they rattled out England for 120 during the chase of 272, just hours after that memorable stand of 89 runs between Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah. However, not all was well between the two teams on the field, as Bumrah and English pacer James Anderson were involved in a heated exchange on Day 3 of the second Test. The incident took place when Bumrah intimidated Anderson with a barrage of short balls and bouncers, in an over where Bumrah even overstepped four times to make it a 10-ball over. Anderson certainly did not look pleased, and when the final wicket was picked up, an annoyed Anderson was seen talking to Bumrah, who patted the veteran English pacer on the back thereafter. As a result, Anderson refused to accept Bumrah’s apology, and India fielding coach R Sridhar recently opened up on the incident, saying the England quick’s refusal to accept an apology from Bumrah after the third day would eventually motivate the visitors’ to do well on the final day. “Bumrah is a competitive fast bowler but wouldn’t want to intentionally hurt anyone,” said Sridhar in a chat with all-rounder R Ashwin on the latter’s YouTube channel.

“So after the innings, the boys were walking back to the dressing room. Then, Bumrah walked past Jimmy and just patted at him, so as to tell him that it wasn’t intentional. We all know Bumrah, he is such a nice guy. So he had gone to talk to him and end the matter, but Jimmy brushed him aside,” Sridhar continued. “That got the team together. Not that the team wasn’t together before. It ignited a fire in everyone. The effect of that was visible on Day 5,” Sridhar explained. Ashwin added his viewpoint, saying, “The thing was, Jimmy (Anderson) was like, “Hey mate! Why are you bowling so fast? Am I doing the same to you?”. “The beauty about that is, looks like Jimmy had told Boom, (Bumrah) “All these while, you were bowling in the 80MPHs, suddenly on seeing me, why are you bowling in the 90MPHs?” Ashwin further elaborated. During India’s second innings, when Ishant Sharma was dismissed leaving the visitors at 209/8, the English pacers hit back, bowling a series of short balls to Bumrah and Shami. However, that ploy was met with a setback as the duo took India to 298/8, setting up a target of 272 for England. In reply, England looked completely out of sorts as Mohammed Siraj took four wickets, while Bumrah carried on his fine form by scalping three wickets to bundle out the hosts for 120 and seal the match. India lead the five-match series 1-0. The teams will now travel to Leeds, where they will contest in the third Test, starting from 25 August.