After the second day’s play in the second Test match against England, Jasprit Bumrah was asked to pick his favorite dismissal among the six scalps he took. Bumrah picked Joe Root’s wicket as his best, ignoring the scorching yorker he had bowled to get rid of Hyderabad’s hero Ollie Pope.
Bumrah, who catapults his balls like a slingshot, is known to nail his yorkers and the Indian gun pacer had bowled a jaffa to get the better of England’s vice-captain, who had been a thorn in India’s flesh in the opening Test.
As there was reverse swing on offer, Bumrah gave no chance to Pope to put any bat to his thunderbolt. The Indian ace pacer went on to register impressive figures of 6-45 and scalped a total of nine wickets in the match to bag the Player of the Match.
Bumrah revealed the yorker is probably the first delivery he learned to bowl as a youngster and thought it was the only wicket-taking option for a bowler.
Bumrah said in the post-match presentation after India’s 106 series-leveling win, “As I said before, I don’t look at numbers. As a youngster I did that and it made me excited. But now it’s an added baggage. As a youngster that is the first delivery I learned (yorker). Had seen the legends of the game. Waqar, Wasim and even Zaheer Khan.”
Speaking on leading the young Indian pace attack, Bumrah said, “We’re going through a transition so I feel it’s my responsibility to help them in any way I can. We discuss certain things. Have been playing with him for a long period of time (Rohit). No not really (competition with Jimmy?). Before a cricketer, I’m a fast bowling fan. If somebody’s doing well, kudos to them. I look at the situation, at the wicket and think what are my options. I should not be a one-trick pony.”
Indeed Bumrah is not a one-trick pony as he bamboozled a well-settled Ben Foakes with a slower delivery on Monday. The Indian spearhead has an average of 13.06 while bowling in home conditions as he has scalped 29 wickets in six Test matches and continues to amaze the cricket world.
The third Test match between India and England will be played at Rajkot from 15th February onwards.
