Ravichandran Ashwin Reveals Virat Kohli's Plan To Give Grand Welcome To Mohammed Shami And Jasprit Bumrah

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin revealed skipper Virat Kohli’s plan to give a grand reception to Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah at Lord’s.

At the start of Day 5, India lost the wickets of their overnight batsmen Rishabh Pant and Ishant Sharma with a minimal lead in hand, but the tail-enders Shami and Bumrah combined together to build an unbeaten partnership of 89 that helped India to set England a target of 272.

Mohammed Shami-Jasprit Bumrah revive India’s innings

In the course of his innings, Shami brought up his second half-century in Test cricket where he plundered six fours and a six against England bowlers who tried their best but could not stop India’s tail.

On the other hand, Bumrah was tackling the short balls bowled at him by Mark Wood and Ollie Robinson and he remained not out on 34.

Ravichandran Ashwin revealed Virat Kohli’s plan to welcome Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah

As the duo walked towards the dressing room at the stroke of lunch, they were welcomed by their teammates and coaching staff as captain Kohli had planned to make it a remarkable moment. Ashwin explained Kohli’s plan during a discussion with India’s fielding coach R Sridhar in a video uploaded on the former’s YouTube channel.

“When we realized they were going to come in at lunch, Virat came and said, ‘Everyone of us is going down to cheer and welcome the boys. The noise has to be so huge that it has to reverberate in Lord’s for years to come,” Ashwin said. 

Later in England’s innings, Bumrah got the wicket of opener Rory Burns on his fifth ball of the first over and Shami dismissed Dominic Sibley in the next over. Senior bowler Ishant Shama got two wickets before lunch and thereafter Bumrah forced skipper Joe Root to poke his back-of-length delivery to Kohli in the slip region.

After Root’s dismissal, England’s remaining batters couldn’t survive Mohammed Siraj’s fiery blows and their innings folded up on 120 as India won by 151 runs and took a 1-0 lead in the five Tests.

Also Read: Ravichandran Ashwin, R Sridhar Reveal What Happened Between Jasprit Bumrah And James Anderson At Lord’s