'Yesterday we fell short with the bat' – Jasprit Bumrah on where the Test got away from India – T20 IPL 2024

It started with a match-haul of nine wickets at Trent Bridge over a year ago and ended with a world record with the bat at Edgbaston. In between, there was a workhorse-like spell at Lord’s and magic at The Oval – all of which contributed to his 23 wickets, the most by an Indian bowler in a Test series in England. Then came the captaincy.

Essentially, it should’ve been everything Jasprit Bumrah could have asked for, right? It wasn’t. He, and India, would’ve dearly loved to wrap up a series win in England, but that wasn’t to be. The fifth Test, which was originally to be played in Manchester last September, finished with England pulling off their highest-ever chase in Test cricket – 378 – with seven wickets in hand.

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A disappointed Bumrah touched upon India’s batting lapses in the second innings as the turning point in the Test. India lost their last seven wickets for 92 to fold for 245.

“This is the beauty of Test cricket, isn’t it? Even if you have three good days, you have to keep coming in and keeping up the good performances,” he said. ” I think yesterday [Monday], we fell short with the bat, and we had to come back with the ball. That is the phase where we let the opposition in, and the momentum kept shifting away from us.”

Bumrah credited England’s fighting spirit and their ability to seize the advantage at key moments. “Ifs and buts… if you go back, you could say in the first match if there was no rain, we could’ve won the series, but this is how the game of cricket goes,” he said. “England played really well, they put us under pressure.

“We were even going ahead in the game, but they kept on fighting, and they played better than us in the second innings and won the game. So yeah, hard-fought series, but that’s the ideal result, isn’t it? Both teams played good cricket.”

Bumrah had a word of praise for Rishabh Pant, who turned the game around on the opening day by lifting India from the depths of 98 for 5 with a counterattacking 146 off 111 balls. His 222-run sixth-wicket stand with Ravindra Jadeja set the tone for India’s 416.

“He takes his chances. He and Jaddu [Jadeja] really got us back into the game because we were really struggling at that time. [At] 98 for 5 England were on top. They counter-attacked and got us into the game, and we were ahead in the game. That’s the beauty of Test cricket, we’ve got different characters in our team. He [Pant] takes his chances, backs his game, and goes to the hilt. So, very happy for him, he had a very good match.”

Having had a taste of Test captaincy, was it something he was happy to hand back to Rohit Sharma? Or does he see himself in the hot seat going forward?

“That’s something I don’t decide,” he said. “It was a good challenge. I always like responsibility. That’s the way I’ve always played cricket. It was a new challenge; a lot of great learnings came my way, and I was a lot more involved in the game. Very happy, it was an honour to lead the team. It was a great experience.”

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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