Former England captain Nasser Hussain has said that star England batter Joe Root will have to overcome the challenge of conquering speedster Jasprit Bumrah in the remaining three India-England Tests. Despite the series being 1-1, the battle between Root and Bumrah has not taken place widely yet. The Indian pacer has dismissed Root twice in four innings thus far and eight times overall in Tests as well.

In his column for the Daily Mail, Hussain added, “Once a bowler’s got one over on you it’s a mental thing as much as a technical thing. You know what’s coming and unless Bumrah gets injured, or Root’s own finger is a problem, it’s coming for six more innings. Root has always found a way to counter his biggest challenges and right now it is Bumrah. As a five-match Test series progresses, individual battles are created along the way and particularly if the ball is reverse swinging, you can bet India captain Rohit Sharma will get Bumrah on to him. Root just does not know which way it’s going at the moment.”

However, Jasprit Bumrah has also dismissed Joe Root four times in the white-ball cricket, including at last year’s ODI World Cup. Root has struggled for form in the two completed Tests against India, scoring only 52 runs in four innings at an average of 13 as well. And, Nasser Hussain felt Joe Root’s struggles in the ongoing series will only strengthen the narrative of Bazball working against him despite his numbers as well.

“The narrative will be that Bazball doesn’t work for him, when actually one look at the raw statistics tells you otherwise. His numbers are actually superior in this period than previously in his career. A similar discussion began in New Zealand a year ago when he tried to reverse sweep Neil Wagner, and re-directed the ball to slip,” concluded Nasser Hussain.