Stuart Broad recalls having a tough time facing Jasprit Bumrah in his playing days.
Former England fast bowler Stuart Broad has revealed that he had a torrid time facing India’s premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah. Broad mentioned in his column for ‘The Daily Mail’ that facing him isn’t like anyone else in the world.
“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. Facing him isn’t like facing anyone else in the world and I used to hate it. Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga, with his slingy 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.”
The legendary fast bowler mentioned how smartly he uses the art of reverse swing. “What makes him so dangerous when reverse-swing comes into play is that he doesn’t tend to get the ball hooping – and therefore needing to start it on an exaggerated line to have an effect – but moving a very subtle amount to keep batters guessing.”
Bumrah dismissed Joe Root for the eighth time in Tests. He picked up 6-45 and dismantled England’s batting order with clinical reverse swing bowling. In the process, he also completed 150 wickets in just his 34th Test match.
Broad also mentioned that no player would have been able to play the inswinging yorker that dismissed Ollie Pope. “The ball that did for Root was a classic of this type: four consecutive balls ducked in, followed by one which went out. The half-bat width difference of movement proved deadly. It was a beautiful set-up by a high-class bowler. Equally, I don’t think any player in the world gets a bat on the inswinging yorker that did for Ollie Pope.”
Broad also took to X and praised Bumrah’s art of reverse swing.
Subtle reverse swing is the most dangerous weapon in the game. It’s not always used so spectacularly tho…#Bumrah #INDvENG
— Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) February 3, 2024
With the bat too, Bumrah has been a nemesis for Stuart Broad. In the Edgbaston Test played in 2022, Bumrah took 35 runs off Stuart Broad in an over, out of which he scored 29 runs with the bat. This is still a world record for the most number of runs scored in one over in Tests.
Bumrah was the wrecker-in-chief in England’s first innings as he picked up six wickets to bowl England out for 253. His spell brought India back into the game on a track good for batting. India, meanwhile were bowled out for 255 in their second innings to hand England a stiff target of 399 runs.
