Riding on Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami’s exceptional fast bowling spells, India annihilated England by 100 runs in Match 29 of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in Lucknow on Sunday (October 29).
Defending the small total of 229, Bumrah and Shami ran through the English top-order. While Bumrah removed Dawid Malan (16) and Joe Root (0), Shami got rid of Ben Stokes (0) and Jonny Bairstow (14).
In their second spell, Bumrah and Shami demolished England’s lower-order to bundle them out for a paltry 129 in 34.5 overs. While Shami returned with four wickets (4/22) in his 7 overs, Bumrah finished with 3 for 32 in his 6.5 overs.
After the game, Bumrah said it was a good challenge for them to bowl under lights for the first time in this tournament.
"It was really good for us because we've been fielding first and we've been doing that for a while now. Because [India chased] in the previous series as well, which I played," Bumrah told Sky Sports.
"It was good challenge for us that we were put under pressure. We lost a little bit of early wickets. We had to squeeze in and in the field as well, we had to put in a lot of effort. So yeah, very happy with the result," he added.
Bumrah said his plan was to find some swing with the new ball, but he switched to seam bowling after realising that the pitch was not offering much.
"Usually when you bowl with the new ball, you first search for swing if there is some swing. Otherwise you just try and hit a hard length and make it as difficult as possible. So there was a little bit of swing, but not too much from my end.
"Then I tried to seam the ball a lot more and which was helping a little bit. So then I changed to seam bowling," he explained.
Bumrah was effusive in praise of Shami, who got the prized scalps of Bairstow, Stokes, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid.
"He [Shami] is outstanding. He's, you know, one of the legends of the game," Bumrah said. "I feel he has always been quite calm. He doesn't come out to be flamboyant, but he way he was bowling as if he was playing a Test match and [it] was really, really wonderful to see.
"Usually we've had a lot of partnerships in Test-match cricket and I really enjoy bowling with him. So yeah, I'm really happy with the way he's going on."
After recovering from a recurring back injury, Jasprit Bumrah returned to action during the T20I tour of Ireland in August this year. Since then, he has performed exceptionally well for India in white-ball cricket.
The right-arm quick said he was unfazed by the outside noise and came back to international cricket with a great headspace.
"My wife [the TV sports presenter Sanjana Ganesan] also works in the sports-media department. So yeah, I heard a lot of question marks on my career that I will never come back and all of that, but it doesn't really matter. I'm very happy. I came back and I realised how much I love playing the game. I was not chasing anything,” Bumrah said.
"Great headspace was there when I came back from the injury. So yeah, eventually I'm looking at the positives and trying to enjoy as much as you can."
