 "India vs England: Ben Foakes sparks Spirit of Cricket debate with stumping attempt of Jasprit Bumrah; Watch")
Debates surrounding the spirit of the game once again got renewed after England wicketkeeper Ben Foakes was involved in a cheeky stumping attempt during the first Test against India on Sunday. The incident occurred at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad during the 66th over of India’s run chase. Bumrah was seen getting down on his haunches having missed one of English spinner Tom Hartley’s deliveries. To get up from that position, Bumrah jumped and Foakes, who was presumably anticipating something similar behind the stumps, dislodged the bails in an attempt to dismiss the ace Indian pacer. Bumrah was well inside the crease and the Indian vice-captain did survive but Foakes’ move brought back memories of Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey’s stumping of Jonny Bairstow during the Ashes last year.
Foakes’ act sparked a huge debate on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. “Hahahahahaha Ben Foakes just tried to stump Bumrah whilst he was in air reacting to a horrible shot he played. Many seconds after the bowl was gloved. If he was a fraction of a second earlier it would have been out. But what about the spirit of cricket,” wrote one social media user.
“Real spirit of the game stuff there from Foakes. No doubt McCullum would’ve run onto the field and ordered Bumrah back to the crease if he was out,” wrote one.
Bumrah, eventually, remained not out on six but could not secure a victory for the Indian cricket team. Chasing a target of 231, the hosts fell short by 28 runs. Following the defeat, India skipper Rohit Sharma confessed that his side failed as a team. “Overall, we failed as a team. After the first innings of their batting and our batting, I thought we were very much in the game. We didn’t bat well enough to get to that score,” Rohit said during the post-match presentation ceremony. The second Test of the five-match series between India and England is scheduled to start from February 2 in Visakhapatnam.