'Keeping This Close': Jasprit Bumrah Poses With Match-Ball After Picking up a Historic 6-wicket Haul in England

Jasprit Bumrah’s lethal bowling helped India bundle out the England team for just 110 runs in the first ODI of the three-match series on Tuesday at Kennington Oval. His terrific fast-bowling spell took him to a career-best six-wicket haul, registering figures of 6 for 19 in 7.2 overs.

Bumrah made the most of the overcast conditions in making the ball talk. The wicket favoured him with ample swing and in return, the right-arm quick tore apart the English batting line.

He struck right in his first over, knocking over Jason Roy for a duck and then dismissing Joe Root (0) caught behind. Further, he got the better of Jonny Bairstow (7), Liam Livingstone (0), David Willey (21), and Brydon Carse (15) to become the first-ever Indian bowler to pick a 6-wicket haul in ODIs on English soil.

After removing four top England batters for a duck, he became the most celebrated bowler and went on to bag the ‘Player of the Match’ for his heroics.

After his match-winning show in London, Bumrah took to Twitter and shared his picture with the match-ball. “Keeping this close,” the caption of his post read.

In the post-match presentation, he said, “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. When it doesn’t swing, I have to pull my lengths back. When the ball is doing something you don’t have to try a lot.”

While explaining his planning with Mohammed Shami on working with the new ball, he said, “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. I told him when he beats the bat, that there would be days when he’d run through the side.”