India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah didn’t play the second Test, and yet England faced a defeat. And, now they will have to prepare for him for the Lord’s Test as well, and it will be difficult too. England lost the second Test by 336 runs, and Indian skipper Shubman Gill confirmed that Bumrah will be back during the third Test starting July 10, and Ben Stokes opined on this as well.
“I thought I’d get through a press conference without being asked about Jasprit Bumrah. We play against each other so often you know what you will be faced with so you put it into practise in training,” Stokes said at the post-match press conference. “Try to do what you can with the coaches and the sidearms, going wide on the crease, trying to give you practise like their bowling lineup. It’s always tough to replicate something that will come down at you in a game.”
READ HERE: “He is like a computer” – Steven Finn hails Jasprit Bumrah after his fifer on Day 3
On their bowling front, Ben Stokes didn’t comment on whether Jofra Archer will be unleashed on the Indian batting line-up in the next game as well.
“Again, it’ll be a decision that we have to make seeing how everyone pull up. We’ve had him here this week to get around the group and build him up with his workloads. Everyone’s in consideration for the game at Lord’s,” Stokes said. “We’ve obviously had some unbelievable wins and some bad defeats. I feel I’m quite good and the team is quite good at staying level throughout those ups and downs. We knew coming into the series it wasn’t going to be easy.”
“Disappointed with the loss here as it would have been great to carry the momentum over from the first game but we don’t find ourselves sitting here like that. We have to wipe this one under the carpet as quickly as we can because Lord’s day one will be coming round pretty quickly. We will have one or two days to get the bodies right and recover and all of sudden we will be out there flipping the coin. It’s about staying as level as you possibly can and not getting too up or low staying true to the fundamentals of what’s got this team to where we are,” Ben Stokes concluded.
