Former Indian wicket-keeper Deep Dasgupta lavished praise on the Indian bowling unit after the first Test against England. The pacers accounted for all 20 wickets at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham, for the first time in India’s Test history.
Dasgupta praised Jasprit Bumrah who roared back to life after an underwhelming performance in the WTC Final against New Zealand. Bumrah picked up nine wickets in the match and stunned the England batting order with his spells. In his YouTube channel, Dasgupta acknowledged the impressive work the bowling unit had done with respect to planning the wickets. He also praised the effectiveness of the four-pacers strategy.
“Although Bumrah didn’t bowl well in the WTC final, I knew that just 1-2 bad games doesn’t make a bowler bad. It was wonderful how the bowling unit planned and how they made changes in different passages of play, when to attack and when to defend, I think that was wonderfully done. Mohammed Siraj playing his first Test in England looked a class apart,” Deep Dasgupta said.
Dasgupta also hailed the performance of Ravindra Jadeja who played his role of an all-rounder to perfection. Despite not bowling a lot because of the presence of four pacers, Jadeja scored 56 crucial runs with the bat in the first innings which gave India the advantage.
“There was one more positive in the batting, and that was Jadeja. His role at No.6 is that of an all-rounder, and he played that to perfection. He didn’t get to bowl much because of the conditions.
“But he paced his innings well, batting normally at first with KL Rahul, and then showed his attacking version with the tail. He batted exactly the way you would want a No.6 to bat, and that is a big positive according to me,” he added.
With the first Test ending in a draw because of the weather conditions, the focus now switches to the second Test which will begin on August 12 at the iconic Lord’s Stadium in London. Dasgupta said he’ll be surprised if India make any changes for the second Test of the series.
“I would be really surprised if they make any changes for the second Test match. As far as fast bowling is concerned, they have bowled a total of 150 overs, that’s all right. Also, the fact that there was this one-month break before this Test match. They have had enough time to relax and chill and rest,” Dasgupta said.
