A fiery spell from Jasprit Bumrah effectively ended the game in just an hour, as India crushed England by 10 wickets in the first ODI at Kennington Oval. Bumrah, meanwhile, registered his career-best figures – 6/19 – to skittle out the hosts for 110.
Bumrah also achieved the rare feat of taking four wickets inside the first ten overs. Only Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Javagal Srinath had done this before him. Moreover, four of his six victims walked back without adding to the score.
He drew the first blood on his fourth ball of the game, with a fullish delivery bowled outside the off stump that took an inside edge of Jason Roy before crashing into the stumps. A ball later, Bumrah cut back his length, and a rising delivery took a faint edge of Joe Root before landing into Rishabh Pant’s gloves. Both batters went for ducks.
It was all downhill for England since then, as batters found it hard to negate the extravagant swing and seam that Indian bowlers were getting on this surface. Rohit Sharma also deserved credit for choosing to bowl first after winning the toss. When asked about the decision, Rohit noted that the moisture on the pitch would have helped his bowlers.
Bumrah then got the better of Jonny Bairstow with a rising delivery, and then uprooted the stumps of Liam Livingstone, who came way too across the crease to miss the in-swinging yorker. Livingstone’s dismissal reduced England to 26/5.
Bumrah then had to wait for over 15 overs to get back into the attack, but it didn’t take him long to leave his imprint. With a subtle change in the pace, Bumrah outfoxed Brydon Carse to complete the second five-for of his ODI career.
“When there’s swing and seam movement, it is very exciting in white-ball cricket to get that opportunity because you have to be defensive with the kind of pitches we usually get. When I bowled the first ball, I found some swing and we tried to exploit that,” said Bumrah, who was also adjudged as the Player of the Match.
“When the ball is doing something you don’t have to try a lot. When the wicket is flat your accuracy is tested. It is a good place to be when the ball is swinging. As soon as Shami bowled the first over, we had a conversation to go fuller. Very happy for him, he gets a lot of wickets,” he added.
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