Zaheer Khan, a former left-arm pacer for India, thinks that Jasprit Bumrah’s great cameo on Day 2 of the Birmingham Test against England shows how positive the Indian visitors are.
Bumrah, who was captaining India for the first time, hit the veteran English pacer Stuart Broad for 29 runs in one over. This set a world record for the most runs scored by a batter in a single over of Test cricket. In the end, Broad gave up a total of 35 runs.
The Indian captain was still unbeaten with 31 runs in 16 balls, and the visitors’ first innings score of 416 was very good. During a discussion on Cricbuzz on Saturday, Zaheer talked about Bumrah’s blitz with the willow and said: “The way Bumrah batted shows how positive the team is. India now has the upper hand.”
Zaheer Khan talks about Jasprit Bumrah
The former cricketer pointed out that the lower-order batters made a big difference in the England series, which included four Tests last year.
“This whole England series has been helped a lot by the lower order, whether it was Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, or Bumrah. Bumrah had also done well at Lord’s. Not just him, but all of the lower-order Indian batters are trying to get better at what they do,” Zaheer Khan said.
In India’s second innings at Lord’s during the 2021 series, Shami (56*) and Bumrah (34*) put together 89 runs. India went on to win the Lord’s Test by 151 runs, which was largely because of this partnership.
Thakur got the 50s in both innings of the Oval Test, helping India win by 157 runs and go up 2-1 in the series.
After his amazing cameo, Bumrah made the rest of the day even more memorable by getting the first three wickets in England’s innings. He got Alex Lees (6) out by bowling a sharp ball that turned back in. Both Zak Crawley (9) and Ollie Pope (10) were out because of deliveries outside of the off-stump. The balls went to the slip cordon.
