New Delhi, Aug 22 (IANS): Former India pacer Zaheer Khan lavished praise on seamer Jasprit Bumrah for his all-round show in India's win over England in the Lord's Test. Zaheer also believes the heated exchange with James Anderson acted as a motivation for Bumrah in the match.
"If by getting angry, he can carry himself and perform like this, I believe he should at times needle the opposition. See, in the first innings, he had gone wicketless and being the class bowler that he is, I am sure it must have bothered him," Zaheer was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
"After that, the whole Anderson episode that unfolded, the bouncers he bowled to him and then while batting, the manner in which the England pacer went after him all those things motivated him, and he channelized that anger in the right way. England must be thinking 'we should have let Bumrah bowl bouncers' and not mess with him. The intensity with which he bowled, was worth praising."
The Bumrah-Anderson fight in the Lord's Test happened on day three when India pacers looked to bowl out the England batting lineup in their first innings. Bumrah bowled a 10-ball over to Anderson, in which he overstepped the line four times.
Apart from bowling no balls, Bumrah also bowled a few short-pitched deliveries to the Lancashire cricketer who managed to save his wicket. However, Mohammad Shami clean bowled Anderson in the last ball of day three and when the players were walking back to the dressing room, everyone witnessed Anderson having a war of words with Bumrah, as the latter kept smiling back.
"Bowling a slower ball is challenging, but to bowl it from round the wicket, from that angle to get a batsman out LBW, you need (to) bowl from close to the wicket, which is never easy. Bumrah did a very tough job. The thought process was excellent. When you're coming round the wicket, even the batsman is thinking 'they might use the bouncer more'. To bring out that kind of variation and to have that thinking to get that wicket, Bumrah was fabulous," Zaheer added.
Bumrah first scored 34 vital runs in an unbeaten 89-run partnership with Shami and then he registered the figures of 3/33 that included the pivotal removal of Root after tea for a top score of 33.