India bowler shouldn’t mind ruffling the feathers in the opposition camp if the Indian ace quick finds motivation out of it to perform better, said Zaheer Khan.
Hailed himself by legendary MS Dhoni as the most clever fast bowler he has seen, ex-India lead pacer encouraged Bumrah to engage with the opponent a lot more if they come after him, and he is ultimately inspired to perform better for the national team.
Bumrah was involved in multiple verbal altercations during the second Test against England at Lord’s where, after a quiet first half, he produced a vital knock of 34 not out. He then delivered a fiery spell of 3/33 in India’s memorable come-from-behind victory.
Provoked by the Indian fast bowler’s full-steam bouncer barrage at No.11 James Anderson on Day 3, England tried to take revenge from him by replicating the bouncer ploy when he himself batted. But that came back to haunt them only, as Bumrah got more inspired to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and tilted it decisively in India’s favour.
“If by getting angry, he can carry himself and perform like this, I believe he should at times needle the opposition,”
“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 channelised 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.”
Zaheer said on Cricbuzz.
Zaheer also lauded Bumrah for his “excellent” game awareness, which was evident in how he dismissed England’s resilient lower-order batter Ollie Robinson on the final afternoon.
With overs running out and victory still three scalps away, Bumrah produced a memorable off-cutter from around the wicket to dismiss him LBW. One over later, India completed their win by 151 runs and went 1-0 up in the five-match Test series.
