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With wickets dropping often, India found themselves in
difficulty as they had to set a target for the first time in this World Cup.
Eventually, they managed to reach 229 for 9, mostly because of Rohit Sharma’s
87 on a difficult surface. But in the end, India defeated England with ease,
and Jasprit Bumrah said it was a good test for the top team.
“It was really good for us because we’ve been
fielding first and we’ve been doing that for a while now. Because [India
chased] in the previous series as well, which I played,” Bumrah told Sky
Sports after picking up 3 for 32 to help enginner India’s 100-run demolition of
England.
“It was good challenge for us that we were put
under pressure,” Bumrah said. “We lost a little bit of early wickets.
We had to squeeze in and in the field as well, we had to put in a lot of
effort. So yeah, very happy with the result.”
In their pursuit of a second tournament victory,
England got off to a strong start as openers Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow
guided them to thirty runs in the opening five overs. However, Bumrah gave
England the upper hand in the fifth over when he got Malan to chop on and trap
Joe Root leg before wicket twice in a row.
After a couple of early runs from Mohammed Shami,
Kuldeep Yadav’s brilliant pass to Jos Buttler left England in too much of a
hole to escape.
Bumrah stated that his intention was to use the new
ball to try and get some swing, but when it didn’t work, he moved to harder
lengths to try to find movement off the pitch.
“Usually when you bowl with the new ball, you
first search for swing if there is some swing. Otherwise, you just try and hit
a hard length and make it as difficult as possible,” Bumrah said. “So,
there was a little bit of swing, but not too much from my end.
“Then I tried to seam the ball a lot more and
which was helping a little bit. So then I changed to seam bowling.”
After missing more than a year due to a stress
reaction in his back, Bumrah returned to activity in August. He acknowledged
that he had heard people wonder if concerns about his fitness might end his
career, but he claimed not to be concerned by the rumours.
“My wife [the TV sports presenter Sanjana
Ganesan] also works in the sports-media department. So yeah, I heard a lot of
question marks on my career that I will never come back and all of that, but it
doesn’t really matter,” Bumrah said. “I’m very happy. I came back and
I realised how much I love playing the game. I was not chasing anything.
“Great headspace was there when I came back from
the injury. So yeah, eventually I’m looking at the positives and trying to
enjoy as much as you can.”