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Stuart Broad recalls facing Jasprit Bumrah during his playing days
By SMCS - Feb 4, 2024 12:30 pm
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Retired England pace bowler Stuart Broad said that he used to hate facing Jasprit Bumrah during his playing days. While talking about Joe Root’s struggles against the right-arm pacer, Broad feels every batter in the Test team will find it difficult to face him as well. However, Bumrah dismantled England’s batting line-up on Day 2 of the 2nd Test in Vishakhapatnam, finishing with six wickets to bowl the England team out for 253. The veteran also dismissed Root for the eighth time in Tests as well.

Stuart Broad
Stuart Broad

In his column for The Daily Mail, Stuart Broad said that Bumrah’s release point makes all the difference. He added: “If If someone as good as Joe Root is habitually struggling with a particular bowler, you can bet your bottom dollar that every batter on the Test scene will be. Facing him isn’t like facing anyone else in the world and I used to hate it. Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga, with his slingy round-arm release, had that point of difference about him and Bumrah has something similar in that his deliveries are incredibly hard to pick up. What makes him so dangerous when reverse-swing comes into play is that he doesn’t tend to get the ball hooping – and therefore needing to start it on an exaggerated line to have an effect – but moving a very subtle amount to keep batters guessing.”

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However, Jasprit Bumrah’s spell changed the entire course of the game as England lost quick wickets after being 110-1 at one stage in response to India’s 396 as well. He claimed his sixth wicket of the innings in the form of James Anderson to give the hosts a 143-run lead as well.

Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah

“The ball that did for Root was a classic of this type: four consecutive balls ducked in, followed by one which went out. The half-bat width difference of movement proved deadly. It was a beautiful set-up by a high-class bowler. Equally, I don’t think any player in the world gets a bat on the inswinging yorker that did for Ollie Pope,” he concluded.