Jasprit Bumrah’s was appointed India captain for the rescheduled fifth Test against England in dramatic circumstances. Bumrah, without any prior expertise in captaincy, was handed the reins after Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the match due to Covid-19.
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A fast bowler leading the side is a rarity and experts were anxious what Bumrah will bring to the game as a leader. Apart from captaining the team superbly so far, Bumrah has also exhibited his superb all-around abilities when he smacked an unbeaten 31 off 16 in the first innings.
While talking about Bumrah’s performance, former India pacer Zaheer Khan said that the 28-year-old’s batting reflected the team’s positive mentality.
“The way Bumrah batted, it reflects the team’s positive mindset. The momentum is now with India. In this entire England series, the lower order’s contribution, be it (Mohammad) Shami, (Shardul) Thakur or Bumrah, has been hugely significant,” Zaheer Khan told cricbuzz.
“We had seen Bumrah do well at Lord’s as well. Not only him, but all the Indian lower-order batters are also trying to get better at their batting than where they are now,” he added.
Bumrah struck four boundaries and two sixes during his blistering knock. He was on strike as Stuart Broad leaked 35 runs – the most runs in an over in Test cricket. Bumrah surpassed Brian Lara’s 17-year-old record to achieve this sensational feat. South Africa spinner Robin Petersen conceded 28 runs against Lara in Johannesburg in 2003.
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Zaheer said Broad’s over reminded him of Yuvraj Singh’s batting in the 2007 T20 World Cup match against England. Yuvraj famously hit Stuart Broad for 6 sixes in the 19th over of a crucial encounter.
Zaheer believes that the added responsibility of leadership has certainly helped Bumrah.
Later, Bumrah produced a magical bowling display after picking up three vital wickets. He dismissed top-order batters Alex Lees (6 off 9 balls), Zak Crawley (9 off 17) and Ollie Pope (10 runs off 18).
Apart from Bumrah, pacer Mohammed Siraj claimed four wickets as the hosts were bundled out for 284 in the first innings.
Prior to the Birmingham Test, Bumrah had played 29 Tests and bagged 123 wickets at an economy rate of 2.65.
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