"Our batters will work it out....": McCullum on challenge of combating Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah (Photo: BCCI/X)

New Delhi [India], February 6 (ANI): England Test head coach Brendon McCullum expressed hope that the batters will work out on how to combat star India pacer Jasprit Bumrah and lauded the pacer for his “unique release points” and swing.

India levelled the five-match series 1-1, beating England by 106 runs in the second Test. One of the three key players aside from batters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill who tormented England was Bumrah, who took a total of nine wickets, including a six-wicket haul in the match.

Talking about tackling Bumrah, McCullum said as per ESPNCricinfo, “Dunno” (Don’t Know). He said that the team does not believe in theories and he feels that players can work it out themselves, just like they have done against other world-class bowlers during the last 18 months or so.

“We do not really do theories. It is about making sure the guys are totally clear and present, confident and have conviction in their method. They are a lot better than I ever was and they will work out how best to go about it.”

“There are contrasting ways of going about it, and I have always said it is important to bounce off whoever you are batting with and the contrasting skills you possess. We will see where we get to. For now, we have to tip our cap to Jasprit and say that spell (in the first innings of the second Test) was as good as anything we have seen so far on this trip.”

“It is all condition-dependent. When the ball is swinging like that he becomes even more of a threat. He is a fantastic bowler in all forms of the game. He is unique with his release points and with how much swing he can generate in the air. No doubt he is very good, but we have come up against very good bowlers all through the last 18 months or so and found ways to counter them and that is what we have got to do in this one,” concluded the coach.

One of the players who has been trying to counter Bumrah is England’s star batter Joe Root. Two times out of four, Bumrah has dismissed Root in this series. Bumrah has dismissed England’s premier batter a total of eight times, three more than any other bowler. But Root’s average against Bumrah is 30.60.

Root’s Test average has dipped below 50 to 49.64 after four patchy innings. During the run chase of 399 in the second Test, Root dropped his anchor-like style in favour of aggression and could muster only 16 runs in 10 balls, taking his run tally in the series to just 52 runs in four innings.

McCullum however said that Root is a world-class player and there are still three games left for him to score big runs.

“He is a world-class player and as good as any player England has ever seen. His method (in the final innings of the second Test), whilst people will look to the dismissal, look at the method of his option and he was trying to get the field back so he could milk them.”

“It is the bravery you have to take at times, and sometimes you get out doing it, but that is just the way the game rolls. There is no doubt from our point of view in that approach. There are three Tests left, still an opportunity to score a whole lot of runs,” he concluded.

Coming to the match, England was bundled out for 292 while chasing a target of 399 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the series, with only Zak Crawley (73 in 132 balls, eight fours and two sixes) taking Indian bowlers to the attack.

Jasprit Bumrah (3/46) and Ravichandran Ashwin (3/72) were the pick of the bowlers for India. Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh and Axar Patel managed to get a wicket each.

Earlier, India gained a 398-run lead in their second innings after being bundled out for 255. Shubman Gill roared into form with a classy 104 in 147 balls with 11 fours and two sixes, scoring a fifty-plus score after 12 innings. Contributions from Axar Patel (45 in 84 balls with six fours), Ravichandran Ashwin and Shreyas Iyer (29 runs each) helped India secure a big lead.

Tom Hartley (4/77) and Rehan (3/88) were the pick of the bowlers for England.

Led by Jasprit Bumrah’s heroics, India had earlier bundled out England for just 253 in their first innings, gaining a 143-run lead. Zak Crawley (76 in 78 balls, with 11 fours and two sixes) did launch an impressive counterattack, but Bumrah (6/45) along with spinner Kuldeep Yadav (3/71) blew away the rest of the English line-up.

India reached a respectable total of 396 runs in their first innings mainly due to the maiden double-hundred of the young Yashasvi Jaiswal (209 in 290 balls, with 19 fours and seven sixes). Knocks from Shubman Gill (34), Rajat Patidar (32), Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel (27 each) provided some help to the left-handed batter. (ANI)

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