IND v ENG 2024: “He struggles to pick up pace,” Atherton offers advice to Ben Stokes on how to tackle Jasprit Bumrah

Bumrah made the England batters dance to his tunes in the Vizag Test.

By Salman Anjum - 07 Feb, 2024

India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah troubled the England batters across the two innings of the second Test match in Visakhapatnam.

In reply to India’s first innings score of 396, the Three Lions were in a strong position at 114/2. However, Bumrah produced an incredible spell of reverse-swing bowling to bundle out the visitors for 253, returning with the remarkable figures of 6/45 in 15.5 overs.

In the fourth innings, the tourists were chasing a daunting target of 399 and Bumrah once again emerged as a chief destroyer, picking up three wickets to script India’s 106-run victory.

Jasprit Bumrah finished the second Test with nine wickets to his name and deservedly earned the Player-of-the-Match award.

After the game, former England captain Michael Atherton lauded Bumrah, saying that the latter’s extraordinary skills unsettled even the most accomplished English batters.

Atherton also mentioned the difficulty that Ben Stokes encountered in picking up the pace of Bumrah's deliveries.

"Picking with the speed of the ball is tough with him and I've noticed with Stokes, even Stokes actually is an excellent player of fast bowling. He's hurried with Bumrah. He struggles to pick up the pace, and a couple of times when he's got him, it looks as though the ball has kept low, which has but it also almost beaten him for pace as well. I think that's the issue with Bumrah," Atherton said while speaking to Sky Cricket.

He further highlighted Bumrah's knack of delivering yorkers with pinpoint accuracy, giving the batters a very little room to manoeuvre.

"It was spectacular [yorker] wasn't it? I don't see what Pope could've done with that. It was an unbelievable image as Pope walked back," Atherton added.

Atherton's analysis extended to Joe Root, who has been at the receiving end of Bumrah's genius on multiple occasions in the ongoing series.

"A kind of stuttering run-up and suddenly like a thunderbolt at 90 miles an hour. So, if you're a person like Root who has kind of pre-movements. Some batters like Zak Crawley for example stand very still, he just stands there and plays the shot."

"Whereas most batters have triggers or pre-movements, and Root is one of those, he has kind of rhythmical back and forward and that I think is the problem."

The third Test is slated to get underway after an extended break on February 15 in Rajkot.

(With IANS Inputs)

By Salman Anjum - 07 Feb, 2024

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