‘When the ball is swinging, it’s a good place to be’ – Jasprit Bumrah after five-star performance in first ODI versus England

Time and time again Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah pulls something out of his sleeve that leaves the world of cricket mesmerized, with their jaws dropped to the floor and the opposition batsmen flummoxed with their backs firmly against the wall.

The lethal Indian pacer pulled something special out of his hand against the reigning world champions in the 50-over format England at The Oval in London. Even before the hosts could get their eye in with the bat, Bumrah was out there doing his thing again and producing ducks on the scoreboard for fun.

His opening spell was the stuff of legend – Bumrah picked up first four wickets within the first eight overs of the match which included the prized dismissals of Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and Liam Livingstone, all stalwarts in their own right.

The 28-year-old then completed a dream performance by adding two more wickets after bowling out tailenders David Willey and Brydon Carse. He ended the day with figures of 6/19 in 7.2 overs that included three maidens, returning the third-best figures for an Indian bowler in ODI cricket after Stuart Binny and Anil Kumble.

England were down and out for 110 after surviving nearly half the allocated overs. It goes without saying that the paltry target proved to be extremely light work for Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. The Indian captain scored 76 off 58 while Dhawan made 31 in 54 deliveries as the visitors got to the target inside 19 overs and with all 10 wickets in hand to wrap up a perfect win.

Jasprit Bumrah clearly seemed chuffed with the shift put in by him and the rest of the boys. He clearly made the best use of the conditions on offer at the Oval and troubled the opposition with swing and seam with his fuller deliveries.

“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. When the wicket is flat your accuracy is tested. It is a good place to be when the ball is swinging,” he said at the post-match presentation.