Aakash Chopra Feels Lack Of Match Practice Impacted Jasprit Bumrah's Performance In The WTC Final

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra dissected the reasons behind Jasprit Bumrah lack of penetration in the recently-concluded World Test Championship final against New Zealand in Southampton. The Kiwis beat India convincingly by eight wickets to crown themselves as the inaugural World Test Champions. Aakash Chopra underlined that shortage of match practice impacted Jasprit Bumrah’s performance in the decider.

Jasprit Bumrah was the least effective in the World Test Championship final against New Zealand in Southampton, going wicketless in both innings. The 27-year old had figures of 36.4-11-92-0. Though Cheteshwar Pujara’s dropping a simple catch off his bowling in the fourth innings robbed him of a wicket, he could not threaten the batsmen consistently.

Aakash Chopra reminded that when talking about batsmen we constantly say the lack of match practice contributed to them performing underwhelmingly. But the 43-year old feels that even bowlers sometimes take time to adjust to the conditions; however, he believes that they fail to acclimatize at times.

“Everyone takes time. Let’s be very very honest. When we talk about the batsmen, we focus for a long time that they should practice and befriend the pitch, play friendly matches and play a lot of deliveries. We don’t talk anything like that about the bowlers. We say that the bowlers can adjust even during the match. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t,” Chopra told in his Youtube channel.

There is no doubt Bumrah is a special bowler, he is one of its kind: Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra further stated that Ishant Sharma performed well; however, he relied on his experience in England. The cricketer-turned-commentator heaped praises on Jasprit Bumrah, labelling him a special bowler. But Aakash pointed out that bowlers need to make the ball move a lot more in the first half of the English summer because the ball comes slightly slower after pitching.

“Ishant Sharma was very good but he was drawing on his experience, he has played county cricket in England as well and 100 Test matches. Shami has also played more Test cricket than Bumrah. There is no doubt Bumrah is a special bowler, he is one of its kind. Absolute phenomenal bowler but is quick in the air. He keeps his hand straight, so the ball goes absolutely straight, doesn’t swing much. In the first half of the English summer, you need to make the ball move a lot more because the ball comes slightly slower after pitching. Then it becomes slightly easier to play,” he added.

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