cricket

Updated: Aug 27, 2019 08:43 IST

Virat Kohli waited for Hanuma Vihari to notch up his maiden Test century, but when he was dismissed for 93, the skipper declared the Indian innings and West Indies were set a daunting target of 419 runs. The surface was a true one and as Indian batting had shown, runs were on offer. However, for Jasprit Bumrah, all these permutations and combinations did not matter as he ran in and bossed proceedings. Playing in his first international game after the World Cup, the fast bowler was rusty in the first innings, but he was absolutely on song in the second dig.

Bumrah, who took his five wickets in eight overs, rattled through the top order, attacking the stumps relentlessly in a devastating spell. He laid a marker when he had Kraig Brathwaite caught behind for one in the first over and after a mere blink of the eyes, West Indies were reduced to 15 for 5 and the result was already a foregone conclusion. With this deadly spell, Bumrah scripted an amazing record - Bumrah’s figures, which is the cheapest five-wicket haul by an India bowler in Test history.

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Also, he has four 5-wicket hauls and what makes this feat memorable is that all have come in four different tours so far - South Africa, England, Australia, and now the West Indies. He is the first India bowler, and also the first bowler from Asia to take a five-wicket haul in each of those four countries. And well, just so that we marvel at his stunning feat, he has done it all in his very first tour to all these countries.

Bumrah was ably supported by fellow pace bowler Ishant Sharma, who collected 3-31, completing an eight-wicket match haul.

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Speaking at the end of the match, Bumrah revealed that he had been adding more variety to his bowling.

“I am feeling very good,” he said. “A lot of hard work goes into my delivery. I used to bowl the inswinger earlier, but the more test matches I’ve played, I’ve gotten more confident to bowl the outswinger.”

Captain Virat Kohli too backed Bumrah to maintain his place in the test side, saying: “He’ll be a key factor for us as long as the World Test Championship continues.”