England pacer James Anderson was in for a tough time with the bat as he faced Indian speedster Jasprit Bumrah towards the end of England’s first innings in the ongoing second Test at the Lord’s Cricket Ground on Saturday. Bumrah launched a barrage of short balls and bouncers at Anderson to trouble him on Day 3 of the Test match.
Anderson came out to bat at no.11 for the host after the dismissal of Mark Wood in the 125th over. Bumrah came on to bowl the 126th over of the England innings and bowled some fiery deliveries against Anderson. The Indian pacer didn’t hold back and bowled a nasty bouncer to start the over which hit Anderson on his helmet and forced him to have a concussion check.
There was no respite for Anderson as Bumrah continued to direct his deliveries towards his body and kept the England tail-ender on his toes. Bumrah ended up bowling four no-balls in the over and had to bowl a total of ten deliveries to complete the over. Nonetheless, he was a nightmare to face for Anderson.
Former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn, who was watching the battle between Anderson and Bumrah, came up with a cheeky tweet after the Indian pacer’s tactics against the England tail-ender. Steyn said Anderson will be begging to get the ball when Bumrah comes on to bat in India’s second innings of the Lord’s Test.
“Jimmy gana be begging for the ball when Jasprit comes in to bat…,” Styen tweeted reacting to the duo’s face-off.
In reply to India’s first-innings total of 364 runs, England rode on skipper Joe Root’s magnificent 180 to post 391 runs on the board in their first innings and take a slender lead of 27 runs at stumps on Day 3. India will now be looking to overhaul the small lead and put on a big total on the board to stage a fightback in the Test match.
