One of the highlights of the second Test between India and England at Lord’s was Jasprit Bumrah going after James Anderson with short-pitch bowling.
It was the 126th over of England's first innings when Anderson had to face Bumrah. Most of the deliveries were directed at the body by the Indian speedster, which left the English No. 11 batsman furious.
WATCH – Full Video of sledging incident between Kohli and Anderson emerges from Lord’s Test
While Anderson somehow survived Bumrah’s hostile over, he was bowled for a duck by Mohammad Shami on the final delivery of the third day's play. Soon after, the 39-year-old was seen exchanging a few words with Bumrah and other Indian players while walking back to the pavilion. It was quite clear that he was not happy at being peppered with short balls.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, veteran India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin discussed the incident with fielding coach R Sridhar and revealed what exactly unfolded in the middle.
“The thing was, Jimmy was like, ‘Hey mate! Why are you bowling so fast? Am I doing the same to you?’. The beauty about that is, looks like Jimmy had told Boom (Bumrah), ‘All this while, you were bowling in 80 m/h; suddenly on seeing me, why are you bowling in 90 m/h?’," Ashwin said.
“What was surprising to me what that kind of question. I agree, maybe he was shaken. Getting hit on the helmet is definitely not easy and I empathize with him, but still, that kind of a statement coming from Jimmy was a surprise to me," he added.
When Bumrah came out to bat in the second innings, England players were seen verbally attacking him in the middle. The Indian team was ready to give it back to England in the second innings and they didn't hold themselves back.
Bumrah and Shami posted a partnership of 89* runs for the ninth wicket as England's tactics to bowl short balls to the tail cost them the Test match.
“England took that Anderson incident very personally. Bumrah said he didn’t even know what happened but all of us got together and told him what Anderson said to him and that riled us up. What happened next was extraordinary," said Ashwin.
Coming to the match, India registered an emphatic 151-run victory over England in the second Test to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Chasing 272 in the fourth innings, the hosts had to bat less than two sessions to defend the Lord’s Test but they failed to do so as India’s pace-quartet demolished their batting line-up.