"Facing him..." - Stuart Broad breaks silence on his hate for Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah was at his destructive best against England when he took the ball in hand during England’s first innings in the ongoing second Test at Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium. He took a six-fer against England in the innings and the English batters were looking very uncomfortable against the seamer as he was playing with them using his ability to make the ball reverse swing both ways troubling the likes of Joe Root, Ollie Pope, and Ben Stokes.

Former England seamer Stuart Broad feels that batting against Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah can get very uncomfortable at times. In a column at the Daily Mail, Stuart Broad admitted that Jasprit Bumrah’s ability to bowl from an uncanny angle makes life tough for the batters out there. Out of his six wickets, he took four of England’s main batters including Joe Root, Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow, and Ben Stokes.

England crumbled like a pack of cards against the Indian pacer on Day 2 of the second Test match. The England team started well in the first innings with openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley adding 59 runs for the first wicket. However, Jasprit Bumrah helped India make a sensational comeback, picking up 6 wickets in the day. The highlight of the day turned out to be Bumrah’s bowling against Joe Root and Ollie Pope, both of whom were set up with a magnificent spell.

“If someone as good as Joe Root is habitually struggling with a particular bowler, you can bet your bottom dollar that every batter on the Test scene will be,” Stuart Broad wrote in the Daily Mail.

“Jasprit Bumrah has a unique action and there’s no doubt that India is a much better team with him in it. He’s an incredible Twenty20 bowler, but as his record of 152 wickets at just 20.28 runs each attests, he is even more effective in Test cricket. Statistically, he is right up there with the very best to have played the game,” he further added.

Stuart Broad Compares Jasprit Bumrah To Lasith Malinga

With the help of Jasprit Bumrah’s fiery spell, India bowled out England for just 253 runs, in what looked like a favorable track for the batters in Vishakhapatnam. England conceded a big lead on Day 2 of the Test match and might have a massive target to chase in the final innings. Stuart Broad further added on Bumrah’s ability to make batters dance to his rhythm, and compared him with his former Mumbai Indians teammate Sri Lankan great Lasith Malinga.

“Facing him isn’t like facing anyone else in the world and I used to hate it. Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga, with his sling round-arm release, had that point of difference about him and Bumrah has something similar in that his deliveries are incredibly hard to pick up,” Broad said.

“Because he trots in from a very calm, short, shuffling run-up, he generates no real energy and there is therefore no real build-up to the ball suddenly being upon you at the striker’s end. It can be very disconcerting,” Stuart Broad concluded on the Indian speedster.

Currently, India is cruising towards a massive lead as Shubman Gill is back in form with a magnificent inning. England was the last team to defeat India in a Test series in India and it was back in 2012 when Sir Alastair Cook led the side to a 2-1 victory against the hosts. The visitors won the first Test by 28 runs in Hyderabad and now the hosts are coming back in the series as they are cruising towards a big lead which will be difficult for England to chase on a fourth or fifth-day pitch in Vishakhapatnam.