Former Indian opener, Wasim Jaffer has opined that India’s stand-in skipper, Jasprit Bumrah failed to implement the right tactics against England batters on Day 4 of the ongoing reschedule fifth Test match against England. Chasing a humongous target of 378 runs at Edgbaston, England came out all guns blazing and quickly reached a score of 259/3 at the end of the day.
Former captain Joe Root and in-form batter Jonny Bairstow kept on scoring at a brisk pace, without giving many chances to the India bowlers. During a chat on EPNcricinfo, Jaffer said that Bumrah needed to take more chances against Bairstow, who loves to attack in the longest format of the game.
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Wasim Jaffer said, He (Bairstow) doesn’t mind hitting over the top when fielders are brought in and takes singles on almost every ball when the field is spread out. There was only one catching option in slip and strike was easily rotated without any pressure.”
He further explained, “So I think Jasprit Bumrah missed a trick there because he could have challenged them later on by bringing the fielders in. If India don’t get 2-3 early wickets on Day 5, it will be really difficult for them.”
The Test match was thoroughly dominated by the Indian team barring the early debacle in the rain-interrupted opening day and then during England’s first innings – at the time Jonny Bairstow was batting. After staying ahead for three straight days, England managed to make a fighting comeback on Day four with Ben Stokes leading from the front.
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Talking about his further, Wasim Jaffer said, “After all the good work that India did for the first three days, they messed it up a bit on Day 4. I think England won all three sessions. There was a lot of time left to play, so I think they could have scored 50 runs more. A target of more than 400 could have given India a psychological edge. Expected a bit more from Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, and also others.”
